UC Irvine (0-2) at
UCLA (4-1)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 11
Time: 12 p.m. (PST)
Location: Los Angeles Tennis Center - Los Angeles, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team is set to face its second Pac-12 opponent this weekend when it heads to UCLA on Saturday, Feb. 11. First serve is set for 12 p.m. at Los Angeles Tennis Center.
 
STORYLINES
• Junior Thomas Smart earned UCI's first dual-match singles win last Saturday vs. LMU with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 5.
• Rithvik Krishna (No. 3) and Ali Amiri (No. 4) also made their way into the win column.
• 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 fell to Loyola Marymount, 4-3, in its home opener last Saturday at Anteater Tennis Stadium. It was a tightly-contested match with the two teams going back-and-forth before the Lions pulled out a third-set tiebreaker to clinch the team victory. LMU took the early 1-0 lead after winning all three doubles matches. Thomas Smart quickly tied it up in singles as he dispatched Austin Di Giulio, 6-2, 6-2, on court five. The visitors answered with a victory at the top of the lineup before Ali Amiri came right back with an impressive 6-1, 7-6 (4) triumph over Toky Ranaivo at No. 4. The seesaw battle continued with the Lions going up 3-2, but Rithvik Krishna kept the 'Eaters alive as he rebounded from an opening-set loss to take down John Bryan Otico, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, in his first career match at the third position. It then came down to court six where Lawee Sherif and Alvaro Gonzalez went down to the wire. Sherif took the first set, but Gonzalez was able to escape with the 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) victory.
 
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
UCLA, which was receiving votes in the latest ITA Top 25 Poll, is 4-1 on the young season with its only loss coming at then No. 7 USC. Sophomore Alexander Hoogmartens leads the Bruins with a 4-0 singles record at the top of the lineup. In the fall, he claimed runner-up honors at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships. Hoogmartens came in at No. 15 in the ITA Top 125 Singles Rankings, while he and Patrick Zahraj are also 58th in the doubles rankings. As a freshman last year, Hoogmartens was an NCAA singles qualifier and first-team All-Pac-12 selection.
 
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 32-18 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 ready to get 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 heads to Stockton, California, for two matches as it will face host Pacific (Feb. 18) and Nevada (Feb. 19) in a neutral-site contest.