UC Irvine (0-3) at
Nevada (0-3)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 18
Time: 2 p.m. (PST)
Location: Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center

UC Irvine (0-3) at
Pacific (1-5)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 19
Time: 12 p.m. (PST)
Location: Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team travels to Stockton, California, for a pair of non-conference matches this weekend. The Anteaters will start with a 2 p.m. neutral-site contest against Nevada on Saturday, Feb. 18. They return to the courts Sunday, Feb. 19, to square off against host Pacific at noon. Both matches will be played at Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
 
STORYLINES
• UC Irvine has faced a couple tough early tests with two of its first three matches coming at Pac-12 schools.
• The Anteaters faced then No. 8 USC in their season opener (Jan. 22) and traveled to UCLA last Saturday, Feb. 11.
• Enrique Luque Rico earned his first dual-match singles win of the season against the Bruins.
• He took down Giacomo Revelli in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, at No. 2 to get the 'Eaters on the board.
• Thomas Smart, Rithvik Krishna and Ali Amiri also made their way into the win column against LMU (Feb. 4).
• Mike Saunders was named the 2022 Big West Men's Tennis Coach of the Year.
• Saunders led UC Irvine to its first Big West men's tennis title in 11 years.
• His squad also had a fifth-straight winning campaign (17-7) with four ranked victories.
• Noah Zamora was named the Big West co-Freshman of the Year after logging a team-best 13-2 dual-match record.
• Zamora was also a first-team all-conference selection in doubles and garnered second-team recognition in singles.
• Zamora and Amiri traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the ITA All-American Championships in the fall.
• In their Division I history, the Anteaters have made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• They have placed first in the Big West standings 17 times and won four Big West tournament titles.
• UC Irvine has been named an ITA All-Academic Team (minimum 3.2 team GPA) in each of the last six years.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine pushed UCLA to a third set in three singles matches, but ultimately fell to the Bruins, 6-1, last Saturday at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Enrique Luque Rico got the Anteaters on the board with an impressive win on court two. Luque Rico started and finished strong for the 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Giacomo Revelli. Ali Amiri and Rithvik Krishna also went down to the wire in their respective matches. At No. 3, Krishna bounced back from a 7-5 loss in the first set to take the second, 7-6 (8-6) against Aadarsh Tripathi. With the team result already decided, the two played a super tiebreaker with Tripathi pulling out the 10-6 win. Amiri saw a similar fate as he dropped a narrow 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9) decision to Azuma Visaya at the fourth position. The Bruins, who were receiving votes in the ITA Top-25 Poll, claimed the doubles point before clinching the match with singles victories at Nos. 5, 6 and 1.
 
SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK
Nevada (0-3) fell to UC San Diego, 4-3, in it season opener before dropping a pair of 4-0 decisions to top-ranked Virginia and No. 25 Ole Miss at the ITA Kickoff, Jan. 28-29. The Wolf Pack will face Pacific Friday before taking on the Anteaters Saturday. Last year, The Pack went 19-8 overall, won the Mountain West Championship and made the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance. Sylvain Malroux was named the 2022 MWC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year, while Juan Batalla (singles), Matheo Coupu (singles) and Satchel Benn/Loris Zisswiller (doubles) earned all-conference recognition.
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
After defeating UCSD in its first match of the season on Jan. 28, Pacific (1-5) has lost five in a row, most recently falling to San Diego in its West Coast Conference opener last weekend. The Tigers welcome back five letterwinners from last year's squad that went 6-17 overall. Junior Ran Amar earned All-WCC Singles honors in 2022.

SENIOR LEADERS
Seniors and veteran leaders Matthew Sah and Ali Amiri have both been with the UC Irvine men's tennis program since fall 2019. The two have come a long way from seeing their freshman dual-match season canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to becoming Big West champions last year. During their collegiate careers, the 'Eaters have boasted a 32-19 dual-match record. Sah is the Anteaters' active leader in doubles wins at 23.
 
"Matt and Ali will continue to give us depth and the competitive fire we need to win the Big West," said Saunders. "They're why we are a united team that plays for one another, and that was a big reason why we won the conference tournament last season."
 
FIRST-YEAR HONORS
Sophomore Noah Zamora was named the 2022 Big West co-Freshman of the Year after going 13-2 in dual-match singles. Zamora, who played everywhere from No. 1 to No. 5, proved he could go up against the best, combining for a 10-1 record at the top three spots in the lineup. In the fall, Zamora led the Anteaters with seven singles victories. He advanced to the pre-qualifying Round of 64 at the ITA All-American Championships and the Round of 32 at the ITA Southwest Regional.
 
RETURNING DEPTH
UCI received significant contributions from a pair of true freshmen in its 2022 championship season. Lawee Sherif, who joined the team last January, was a staple in the lineup, playing at Nos. 3-5. Rithvik Krishna also finished with a 5-1 dual-match record. He won his last three decisions, including a 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory in the Big West Championship match. In addition, junior Thomas Smart is back on the court after suffering a season-ending injury last year.
 
SEASONED NEWCOMERS
UC Irvine added two newcomers ahead of the 2022-23 season. Enrique Luque Rico (Cordoba, Spain) is a graduate transfer who spent the last four years at Pepperdine where he was a two-time All-West Coast Conference selection in singles. He finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 20-5 overall record. Brandon Park is also a junior transfer out of Pacific (2020-22). Park went 6-2 during the fall season with a couple impressive wins over Pac-12 opponents.
 
STAYING LOCAL
UC Irvine's eight-man roster is comprised of six student-athletes from the Southern California area, including Ali Amiri and Rithvik Krishna, who are both from Irvine.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
Two international student-athletes - Enrique Luque Rico (Spain) and Thomas Smart (England) - round out UCI's roster. The 'Eaters have had at least two international student-athletes every year since 2014-15.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine returns to Anteater Tennis Stadium to host Saint Mary's (Feb. 24) and Gonzaga (Feb. 25).