Gonzaga (5-5) at
UC Irvine (8-5)
Date: Saturday, March 23
Time: 11 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Army (7-10) at
UC Irvine (8-5)
Date: Tuesday, March 26
Time: 1 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine men's tennis closes out a five-match homestand, and its non-conference slate, against Gonzaga and Army. The Anteaters are set to host the Bulldogs at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 23, before welcoming the Black Knights to Irvine for a 1 p.m. showdown on Tuesday, March 26.
 
QUICK HITS
• The 'Eaters have been tough to beat at home where they are 7-1.
• Their first home loss of the season came last Friday (March 15) to No. 7 Columbia.
• UCI plays seven of its nine matches in the month of March in the friendly confines of Anteater Tennis Stadium.
• Gonzaga will be the Anteaters' fifth West Coast Conference opponent. They are 2-2 against the WCC this season.
• Noah Zamora, who has won five of his last six, is tops on the squad with eight singles victories.
• Lawee Sherif and Hiroki Sakagawa are tied for second on the team with seven singles wins apiece.
• UCI won the Big West tournament in 2022 and secured a share of the Big West regular-season title in 2023.
• The Anteaters have seven returning letterwinners, and all seven are upperclassmen.
• Each of their four All-Big West selections from a year ago are back for another season.
• In their Division I history, the 'Eaters 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 seven years.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Going up against its second top-10 opponent of the season, UC Irvine was handed its first home loss, falling to seventh-ranked Columbia, 7-0, last Friday at Anteater Tennis Stadium. The Lions closed out a 3-0 week in Southern California where they also defeated No. 31 UCLA and No. 40 Pepperdine. UCI gave Columbia a run for its money in doubles. Andy Nguyen and Hiroki Sakagawa dropped a 6-4 decision to No. 22 Nicolas Kotzen/Max Westphal. Brandon Park and Matthew Sah then took Alex Kotzen/Henry Ruger to a tiebreaker where they fell, 7-6 (3). At the top of the lineup, Rahul Dhokia and Noah Zamora were locked in a tight battle with No. 18 Theo Winegar/Michael Zheng as they were tied 6-6 when the point was clinched. In singles, the Lions won in straight sets at Nos. 6, 3 and 1 to secure the win. Nguyen started strong start at the fourth position where he won the first set, but Westphal came back to take the next two for the 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Noah Zamora was named the Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week on March 13. He was recognized after going 2-0 to extend his singles win streak to four matches. He secured the Anteaters' lone point in a 4-1 loss at 31st-ranked UCLA with an impressive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spencer Johnson on court three. Two days later, Zamora made his season debut at the second spot in the lineup where he made quick work of Weber State's Elyes Marouani, 6-2, 6-1. He was first off the court in an 7-0 sweep of the Wildcats. At No. 1 doubles, Zamora teamed up with Rahul Dhokia to take down Josh Robinson/Thomas Wakefield, 6-1, in a 7-0 win over Villanova.
 
SCOUTING THE ZAGS
Gonzaga (5-5) is at the tail end of a seven-match road stretch. In their last outing (March 17), the Bulldogs were swept by Portland in their WCC opener. Sasha Trkulja, a two-time All-WCC selection in both singles and doubles, leads the Zags at the top of the lineup. Matthew Hollingworth also earned all-conference honors in doubles in each of the last two seasons.
 
SCOUTING THE BLACK KNIGHTS
Army (7-10) has three home matches this weekend before making its way out to UC Irvine. The Black Knights have won two of their last three as they defeated Hofstra and Marist in a doubleheader on March 17.

FROM THE TOP
Graduate student Enrique Luque Rico transferred to UCI from Pepperdine prior to the 2022-23 campaign and has been a steady force at the top of the singles lineup for the Anteaters since his arrival. This season, he is 6-4 at No. 1 with two of his losses coming against ranked opponents. Last year, Luque Rico went 10-6 to earn first-team All-Big West honors. Over his collegiate career, he owns a 44-22 dual-match singles record.
 
BIG WEST DOMINANCE
Noah Zamora owns a 12-1 career record against Big West opponents. In 2023, he went unbeaten in his last 15 outings where he was 11-0 with four matches that went unfinished. During that stretch, he was 6-0 against Big West foes. Zamora is a two-time all-conference selection in both singles and doubles, and was named the 2022 Big West Freshman of the Year. In his three seasons at UCI, the San Diego native is 33-11 (.750).
 
WIN NO. 20
In just his 26th decision in his collegiate dual-match career, junior Rithvik Krishna recorded his 20th career win. This year, he has gone 6-4 while playing at Nos. 2-5. Krishna, who is in his third season at UCI, owns an impressive .697 win percentage (23-10). Last year, he earned an All-Big West honorable mention nod.
 
YEAR FIVE
UC Irvine has a veteran squad led by fifth-year seniors Ali Amiri and Matthew Sah. After seeing their freshman dual-match season canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amiri and Sah helped the Anteaters to a Big West tournament title in 2022 and a share of the regular-season championship in 2023. During their UCI careers, the 'Eaters have boasted a 54-29 dual-match record. Amiri is finishing up his undergraduate degree in biological sciences, while Sah is in the Master of Software Engineering program. Sah is the Anteaters' active doubles wins leader at 37.

SEASONED NEWCOMERS
UCI bolstered its roster with the addition of three newcomers, including graduate transfers Rahul Dhokia and Hiroki Sakagawa. Dhokia previously played at Texas A&M and Baylor, where he was a member of the Bears' 2021 NCAA Finalist team. He made his Anteater debut in doubles (3-2) on Feb. 25 and in singles (3-1) on March 5. Sakagawa spent the last four years at the University of Arizona. In his first season at UC Irvine, Sakagawa is 7-3 in singles and 7-4 in doubles alongside Andy Nguyen.
 
BLUE CHIP
Freshman Andy Nguyen rounds out UC Irvine's trio of newcomers. Nguyen is a blue-chip recruit from Millikan High School in Long Beach. He was the CIF-Southern Section individual champion in 2022, while he also led the Rams to the CIF Division 4 team title in 2021. Nguyen was ranked eighth in California and 18th in the nation according to Tennis Recruiting. As an Anteater, Nguyen is 11-5 overall and 5-3 in dual matches while playing at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine travels to UC Davis for its Big West opener next Saturday, March 30.