LOS ANGELES - The UC Irvine men's tennis team put up a good fight at No. 7 USC (1-0) but was unable to get on the board in a 7-0 loss Friday at Marks Stadium.
 
The Anteaters (1-1) led on all three doubles courts before the nationally-ranked Trojans came back to take the early 1-0 advantage.
 
At the second position, Enrique Luque Rico and Matthew Sah were locked in a back-and-forth battle with Volodymyr Iakubenko/Samuel Rubell. Luque Rico/Sah went toe-to-toe with the home team and held a late 5-4 edge, but Iakubenko/Rubell won the next three games for the 7-5 victory.
 
Brandon Park and Noah Zamora came out firing as they had all the momentum, going up 5-0 on Peter Makk/Lodewijk Weststrate at the top of the lineup. With their backs against the wall, USC's No. 1 pair dug deep, finding a way to erase the deficit and clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 win.
 
Andy Nguyen and Hiroki Sakagawa were up 5-4 against Karl Lee/Niroop Vallabhaneni at No. 3 when their match was called.
 
In singles, Nguyen had a strong start at No. 4, winning his first set 6-3. Iakubenko then battled back to take the second frame, 7-5. With the match already clinched, the two played a super tiebreaker where Iakubenko edged Nguyen, 12-10.
 
Sakagawa also had an impressive performance against 39th-ranked Peter Makk on court two. After dropping the opener, Sakagawa found himself down 5-3 before winning the deciding point in each of the next three games to pull ahead, 6-5, but Makk was able to force a tiebreaker and hold on for the 6-2, 7-6 (2) triumph.
 
Zamora went up against another ranked opponent in No. 73 Lodewijk Weststrate. He was also down 5-4 before breaking serve to tie it up, but Weststrate finished strong for the 6-1, 7-5 victory. At No. 1, Luque Rico dropped a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 decision to Stefan Dostanic, who was a 2022 All-American.
 
UC Irvine returns to Anteater Tennis Stadium next weekend, hosting BYU on Friday, Jan. 26 (1 p.m.) and San Diego State on Saturday, Jan. 27 (12 p.m.).