Results

IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine men's tennis team put together one of their best matches in the regular-season finale where they defeated No. 72 Hawai'i, 4-1, Sunday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
 
The 'Eaters (14-6, 4-2 Big West) left everything on the court as they fought back from a one-set deficit in four singles matches and won three of them to clinch the victory. It was their second win over a ranked opponent this season.
 
After Mike Mkrtchian delivered the final point at No. 5 singles, he was recognized along with Emmanuel Coste and Riccardo Roberto in a post-match Senior Ceremony.
 
UCI debuted two new doubles teams with both pairs winning their respective matches. UH took the early advantage with a victory at the top of the lineup before Ali Amiri and Lawee Sherif evened the playing field by upending Simao Telo Alves/Kilian Maitre, 7-5, at No. 3. The point then came down to court two where Riccardo Roberto and Matthew Sah dug deep to defeat Axel Labrunie/Blaz Seric, 7-6 (4).
 
After a short break, the Rainbow Warriors (11-5, 4-2 Big West) got out to a strong start in singles, winning the first set on five of the six courts. The 'Bows tied it up at 1-1 with a straight-set victory at the fourth position, but the Anteaters then reclaimed the momentum, sending the remaining matches to a third frame.
 
Rithvik Krishna put UC Irvine back on top with an impressive 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Maitre at No. 6. Roberto also regrouped after dropping the opening set to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 against Labrunie at No. 2.
 
That set the table for Mkrtchian, who had a gritty performance on court five. The first set was a back-and-forth affair with UH's Karl Collins eventually winning the tiebreaker, but it was all Mkrtchian after that as he bounced back for the 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-4 match-clinching victory.
 
No. 82 Emmanuel Coste also had a 5-3 lead in the third set against 34th-ranked Andre Ilagan when his match was abandoned.
 
With the win, the 'Eaters earned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Big West Men's Tennis Championship at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. They will open the tournament against sixth-seeded UC Davis in the first round on Friday, April 29.
 
NOTES
• UC Irvine finishes the year with a 9-2 home record and improved to 40-9 at Anteater Tennis Stadium since 2018.
• The Anteaters have now won 10-straight dual matches against Hawai'i with their last loss coming in 2014.
• Riccardo Roberto extended his season-long singles win streak to eight matches.
• Mike Mkrtchian improved his career record in Big West dual matches to 11-1.
• Rithvik Krishna (3-1) made his first appearance in the singles lineup since March 23.
• Matthew Sah earned his team-leading 11th doubles victory of the season and 21st of his career.