UTRGV (5-11) at
UC Irvine (4-6)
Date: Thursday, March 16
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine men's tennis closes out a five-match homestand when it hosts the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) on Thursday, March 16. First serve is set for 9 a.m. at Anteater Tennis Stadium. 

The UTRGV-UCI match was originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 15, but was pushed back due to rain.
 
STORYLINES
• UC Irvine is on a three-match win streak after defeating Army (March 5), Boston U (March 6) and Utah State (March 11).
• The 'Eaters will play seven of their nine matches in the month of March at home.
• UCI has faced three teams currently ranked in the ITA Top 75 (USC, UCLA, Pepperdine).
• Three of the Anteaters' six losses have come against 2022 NCAA Tournament teams.
• Enrique Luque Rico is riding a four-match singles win streak.
• He has played the last five at No. 1 where he is 3-0 and has dropped only one set.
• Thomas Smart has also won three in a row and owns a team-best 6-3 singles record in dual-match play.
• Brandon Park and Noah Zamora, who made their doubles debut on Feb. 18, are 6-1 at the top of the lineup.
• Mike Saunders was named the 2022 Big West Men's Tennis Coach of the Year.
• Last season, Saunders led UC Irvine to its first Big West men's tennis title in 11 years.
• His squad had a fifth-straight winning campaign (17-7) with four ranked victories.
• Zamora was named the 2022 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 Ali 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
After dropping the doubles point, UC Irvine came storming back in singles for a 4-2 victory over Utah State last Saturday at Anteater Tennis Stadium. In doubles action, Matthew Sah and Lawee Sherif fell behind 2-0 to Stijn Paardekooper/Nuno Pinherio at No. 2. The UCI duo won the next two to pull even and a back-and-forth battle ensued before Sah/Sherif took the last three games for the 6-4 victory. The Aggies tied it up on court one with David Cierny/Bodin Zarkovic handing Brandon Park and Noah Zamora their first loss of the year. Park/Zamora fought back from a 4-1 deficit to knot the score but were unable to close it out in a 6-4 defeat. The first point of the match then came down to the third position where Jack Ninteman/Roko Savin edged Ali Amiri and Thomas Smart in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (5). In singles, Enrique Luque Rico made quick work of Cierny, 6-0, 6-1, at the top of the lineup. Amiri followed with an impressive 6-4, 6-0 victory over Pinherio to give the home team the lead. Rithvik Krishna made it a 3-1 advantage with another straight-set win at No. 4. Krishna came from behind in the second frame to upend Savin, 6-2, 7-5. Utah State stayed alive with a hard-fought victory at No. 2 before Smart clinched the match at the sixth spot where he outlasted Javier Ruiz, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
 
SCOUTING THE VAQUEROS
UTRGV (5-11) has lost its last three, most recently falling to Nevada, 5-2, in a neutral-site match played in La Jolla, California, on Sunday, March 12. The Vaqueros will head to Hope International in Fullerton on Tuesday before making their way to Irvine on Wednesday. Junior transfer Emilien Burnel leads the team with nine singles victories and has seen most of the action at the top of the lineup where he is 8-6. Burnel has also teamed up with sophomore Borna Devald to go 7-2 in doubles.
 
INSTANT CHEMISTRY
Junior Brandon Park and sophomore Noah Zamora found instant chemistry on the court. The duo made their debut as a tandem on Feb. 18 and won six-straight at the top of the lineup. They clinched the doubles point against Nevada and Army, while also earning an impressive 6-4 victory at Pepperdine. Park/Zamora (6-1) were handed their first loss of the season against Utah State last Saturday, March 11.
 
SINGLES STREAK
Graduate transfer Enrique Luque Rico (5-3) is riding a four-match singles win streak. He has not dropped a set since March 3. Luque Rico played the last five at the top of the lineup and is 3-0 with two of his matches going unfinished. He made his debut at No. 1 on March 2 at his former school, Pepperdine, and was leading No. 124 Tim Zeitvogel, 6-4, 3-3, when the Waves clinched. Luque Rico also had a Pac-12 win on Feb. 11, upending UCLA's Giacomo Revelli, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, at No. 2.
 
THE COMEBACK
Junior Thomas Smart, who missed most of last season with an injury, owns a team-best 6-3 record in dual-match singles. He has won three in a row, while his only losses this year came at eighth-ranked USC, at UCLA and vs. Boise State.
 
NEW YEAR, NEW ROLE
After playing most of last season at Nos. 3-5, sophomore Noah Zamora moved up to the top two spots for his first seven matches of the 2023 campaign. Zamora earned his first victory of the dual-match season in straight sets at No. 2 against Army's Thomas Lake, while he made it two in a row after taking down Jonah Dickson of Boston U at No. 3. Zamora was named the 2022 Big West co-Freshman of the Year after going 13-2. In the fall, he led the 'Eaters with seven victories, advanced to the pre-qualifying Round of 64 at the ITA All-American Championships and made it to the Round of 32 at the ITA Southwest Regional.
 
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 own a 36-22 dual-match record. Sah is the Anteaters' active leader in doubles wins at 27.
 
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.
 
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 UC Riverside for its Big West opener next Saturday, March 25.