BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Semifinals
[2] UC Irvine (12-7, 5-1 Big West) vs.
[3] UC Davis (13-6, 5-1 Big West)
Date: Saturday, April 29
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Barnes Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.
Live Scoring

Championship Match
Date: Sunday, April 30
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Barnes Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.
Live Scoring

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team heads to San Diego this weekend for the Big West Championships, April 28-30. As the No. 2 seed, the Anteaters received a first-round bye and will take on No. 3 UC Davis in Saturday's semifinal. The championship match is then slated for Sunday, April 30. First serve for all rounds of the tournament is 9 a.m. at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
STORYLINES
• The 'Eaters clinched a share of their first Big West regular-season championship since 2015.
• They finished in a three-way tie for first with UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis.
• UCSB earned the top seed based on its No. 39 national ranking, while UCI owned the head-to-head tiebreaker with UCD.
• UCI has won four in a row against the Aggies after earning a 4-0 sweep at home in the regular-season meeting two weeks ago.
• The Anteaters defeated Davis, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara to win the 2022 Big West tournament title.
• UC Irvine followed a tough 1-6 start to the 2023 dual match campaign with 10-straight wins.
• Their 4-0 victory against UC Davis on April 14 was eighth-year head coach Mike Saunders' 100th career dual-match win.
• Since March 5,  the 'Eaters have been dominant in singles where they are 54-8 (.871).
• Not including the canceled 2020 season, UCI has reached 10+ wins every year since 2017-18.
• Five of the Anteaters' seven losses this season were to teams ranked in the latest ITA Top 75.
• Enrique Luque Rico earned his first ranked win of the year at Cal Poly, defeating No. 83 Noah Berry in straight sets.
• Thomas Smart, who has seen action at Nos. 4-6, is tops on the squad with 13 singles victories.
• Noah Zamora (10-6) takes a season-long 10-match singles win streak into the Big West Championships.
• Zamora went 5-0 against conference opponents, while Ali Amiri, who has won eight in a row, went 4-0.
• Rithvik Krishna saw his nine-match win streak snapped last Saturday but is second on the squad with 11 victories.
• In their Division I history, the Anteaters have made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• They have placed first in the Big West standings 18 times and won 4 conference tournament titles (2022, 2010-11, 2005).
• UC Irvine has been named an ITA All-Academic Team (minimum 3.2 team GPA) in each of the last six years.
 
BIG WEST NOTABLES
The Anteaters will be making their eighth consecutive appearance in the Big West semifinals. They are 9-18 all-time in semifinal appearances and are 4-5 in championship matches. UCI won the title in 2022, 2011, 2010 and 2005. In Big West tournament meetings, UCI is 1-1 vs. UC Davis, 4-0 vs. UC Riverside, 8-0 vs. Cal Poly, 3-0 vs. Hawai'i and 3-13 vs. UC Santa Barbara.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine clinched a share of the Big West regular-season championship with a 4-1 victory over UC San Diego at Anteater Tennis Stadium on Sunday, April 23. The 'Eaters took the early lead against the Tritons with a pair of 6-4 victories giving them the doubles point. Matthew Sah and Rithvik Krishna set the tone, defeating 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. 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. Thomas Smart then dispatched Charles Qian 6-3, 6-2 on court five to give UC Irvine a 3-0 advantage. UCSD stayed alive with a win at the third position before Park delivered the match-clinching point at No. 2 where he upended Phillip Lan 7-6 (7), 6-2.
 
SINGLES STREAKS
Sophomore Noah Zamora is unbeaten in his last 13 outings where he is 10-0 with three matches that went unfinished. Ali Amiri also won his eighth in a row after dispatching UCSB's Kai Brady, 6-4, 6-1, on April 16. Zamora (5-0) and Amiri (4-0) went unbeaten against Big West opponents, while Rithvik Krishna and Brandon Park were both 4-1.

SCOUTING THE FIELD
Third-seeded UC Davis (14-6) took down No. 6 UC Riverside, 4-0, in the opening round on Friday, April 28. The Aggies, who were part of the three-way tie for first in the conference standings, has three players with double-digit singles wins, including Lucas Bollinger and Brett Brinkman at 12 each.
 
The second semifinal match-up will feature top-seeded  UC Santa Barbara (20-3) against the winner of No. 4 Hawai'i (10-8) and No. 5 Cal Poly (7-11). Phillip Jordan has played most of the season at the top of the lineup for the 39th-ranked Gauchos and leads the squad with a 15-4 dual-match singles record. Jordan and Kai Brady are also 80th in the ITA doubles rankings.
 
FROM THE TOP
Graduate transfer Enrique Luque Rico (9-5) is 7-2 since moving to the top of the singles lineup on March 2. He earned his first ranked win of the season at Cal Poly where he took down No. 83 Noah Berry 6-4, 6-1 to clinch the team victory. It was his third ranked opponent of the dual-match season as he fell in three sets to No. 68 Andre Ilagan of Hawai'i on April 1 to snap a seven-match win streak, while he was up a set on No. 124 Tim Zeitvogel of Pepperdine when their match was abandoned. Earlier in the season, Luque Rico also had a Pac-12 win, upending UCLA's Giacomo Revelli 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 at No. 2 on Feb. 11.
 
WIN NO. 20
Sophomore Noah Zamora earned his 20th career dual-match singles win at Hawai'i on April 1. In one-plus seasons at UCI, Zamora, who was tabbed the 2022 Big West co-Freshman of the Year, has compiled a 23-8 record. The San Diego native has settled in nicely at the second and third positions this season where he is 9-1. In the fall, Zamora 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.
 
THE COMEBACK
Thomas Smart (13-5), who missed most of last year with an injury, was the first 'Eater to reach double digits in the dual-match singles win column in 2023 with his 10th victory coming at Hawai'i. He has played at Nos. 4-6 and is 8-2 in his last 10 outings. Four of his five losses were against teams that are currently ranked in the ITA Top-75.
 
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 proceeded to win 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 (11-4) were handed their first loss of the season against Utah State on March 11.
 
ADDING DEPTH
Sophomore Rithvik Krishna was a key contributor during the Anteaters' 2022 Big West championship run. He was in the singles lineup at No. 6 for each of the team's last five matches and went 5-1 on the season with two of his victories coming in the conference tournament. Krishna has continued to build on a strong start to his collegiate career with an 11-5 mark while playing primarily at No. 4 this year.
 
FOURTH-YEAR 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 44-23 dual-match record. Sah is the Anteaters' active leader in doubles wins at 30.