UCI Defeats UC San Diego, 4-1, on Senior Day

Sunday, April 23

Irvine, Calif.

3:00 PM

UC Irvine

UC San Diego

Photo by: Matt Brown

UCI Defeats UC San Diego, 4-1, on Senior Day

April 23, 2023 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine closed out the regular season with a 4-1 victory over UC San Diego Sunday at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

With the win, UCI (12-7, 5-1 Big West) clinched a share of the Big West regular-season title along with UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara, who also went 5-1 in conference play.

The 'Eaters will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big West Championships and will start their title defense in the semifinals on Saturday, April 29.

The Anteaters took the early lead with a pair of 6-4 victories giving them the doubles point. Matthew Sah and Rithvik Krishna set the tone, taking down Joseph Teh/Diogo Tinoco at No. 3 Shortly after, Brandon Park and Noah Zamora closed out their team-leading 11th dual-match doubles victory at the top of the lineup.

Noah Zamora continued to roll in singles as he was first off the court with his 10th-straight win. Playing at No. 1 for the first time since Feb. 19, Zamora was dominant in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Daniel Traxler, who was the reigning Big West Player of the Week.

Thomas Smart then dispatched Charles Qian 6-3, 6-2 on court five to give UC Irvine a 3-0 advantage. Smart, who has won seven of his last eight singles matches, is tops on the squad with 13 victories.

The Tritons (7-18, 0-6 Big West) stayed alive with a win at the third position before Brandon Park delivered the match-clinching point at No. 2. Park dug deep to edge Phillip Lan, 7-6 (7) in the first set and carried the momentum into the second frame where he ran away with the 6-2 victory.

Lawee Sherif was leading in a third set, while Ali Amiri was also up 7-5, 4-1 when the match was clinched.

The Anteaters recognized both Matthew Sah and Thomas Smart following the Senior Day win.

UCI will now head to Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego for the Big West Championships, April 28-30. Based on the tiebreakers, the 'Eaters earned the No. 2 seed and are slated to open postseason play in the semifinals on Saturday, April 29. They will face the winner of No. 3 UC Davis and No. 6 UC Riverside.