IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team defeated BYU, 6-1, Friday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
 
The 'Eaters, who clinched the match before the Cougars got on the board, improved to 2-1 on the young season with both their wins coming at home.
 
The Anteaters dug deep for a hard-fought doubles point. After BYU took the early advantage behind a 6-4 victory from the 35th-ranked duo of Zach Fuchs/Wally Thayne at No. 1, UCI came through on the remaining two courts.
 
Enrique Luque Rico and Matthew Sah evened the playing field by taking down Tygen Goldammer/TJ Wells, 7-5, at the third position. Andy Nguyen and Hiroki Sakagawa then outlasted Jack Barnett/Redd Owen in a tiebreaker to secure the early lead with a 7-6 (6) win.

In singles, Rithvik Krishna was first off the court, dispatching Goldammer, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5. Lawee Sherif followed with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over David Duong at the sixth spot to put UC Irvine up 3-0.
 
Noah Zamora then clinched the match in straight sets at No. 3 where he took down Owen, 6-4, 6-4.
 
The Cougars (1-3) got on the board with a win at the second position, before Nguyen and Luque Rico put two more points on the board for the Anteaters.
 
Nguyen bounced back from a first-set loss to defeat Fuchs, 5-7, 7-6 (1), 10-3 at No. 4. Luque Rico then closed out the match with an impressive 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Barnett at No. 1.
 
UCI is back at Anteater Tennis Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 27, when it squares off against San Diego State at 12 p.m.