BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Semifinals
[2] UC Irvine (15-6, 5-1 Big West) vs.
[3] Cal Poly (10-9, 4-2 Big West)
Date: Saturday, April 27
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Barnes Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.

Championship Match
Date: Sunday, April 28
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Barnes Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine men's tennis heads to San Diego this weekend for the 2024 Big West Championships, April 26-28. As the No. 2 seed, the Anteaters received a first-round bye and will take on No. 3 Cal Poly in Saturday's semifinal. The championship match is then slated for Sunday, April 28. First serve for the semis and final is 10 a.m. at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
BIG WEST NOTABLES
The 'Eaters will be making their ninth consecutive appearance in the Big West semifinals. They are 10-18 all-time in semifinal appearances and 4-6 in championship matches. UCI won the title in 2022, 2011, 2010 and 2005. Last year, UC Irvine fell to UCSB in the final. In Big West tournament meetings, the Anteaters are 8-0 vs. Cal Poly, 4-0 vs. UC Riverside, 3-14 vs. UC Santa Barbara, 2-1 vs. UC Davis and 3-0 vs. Hawai'i.
 
QUICK HITS
• With a 15-6 overall record, the 'Eaters have secured their seventh-straight winning season.
• They have also totaled 15+ overall victories in three of the last five full seasons (not including 2020).
• The Anteaters went 5-1 in Big West play with their only loss coming in a 4-3 decision at top-seeded UC Santa Barbara.
• In his UC Irvine career, junior Noah Zamora owns a 17-1 singles record against conference opponents.
• This season he is 5-0 in Big West matches and has a team-best 22 overall singles wins (14 dual).
• Andy Nguyen, Rithvik Krishna and Lawee Sherif have all reached double digits in dual-match victories with 10 each.
• As a team, the Anteaters have been impressive in singles where they are 78-31 (.716).
• In doubles Zamora and Rahul Dhokia had a signature win, defeating UCSB's 38th-ranked duo of Brunkow/Masjuan, 7-6.
• UC Irvine won the Big West tournament in 2022 and claimed a share of the Big West regular-season title in 2023.
• 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
UC Irvine closed out the regular season with a 4-1 win over Hawai'i last Saturday (April 20) at Anteater Tennis Stadium. After dropping the doubles point, the 'Eaters came out strong in singles, taking the first set on all six courts. Hiroki Sakagawa made quick work of Karl Collins, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2. Noah Zamora followed with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Guillaume Tattevin at the third position. Rithvik Krishna then dispatched Andrew Somerville, 6-4, 6-1, on court five to put UCI on top, 3-1. The remaining three courts ended up going to a decisive third set, but Enrique Luque Rico came up big as he rallied for a 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 win over Quinn Snyder at the top of the lineup to clinch the match.
 
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Freshman Andy Nguyen received the Anteaters' second Big West Player of the Week honor on March 27. Nguyen was recognized after helping UC Irvine to a 4-3 victory over Gonzaga. He gave the 'Eaters their first lead of the match as his 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Pablo Gomez Galvan at No. 4 singles put UCI up 2-1. Nguyen was the only freshman in the conference to claim the weekly award this season. On March 13, junior Noah Zamora secured UC Irvine's first Big West Player of the Week nod after going 2-0 in singles against No. 31 UCLA and Weber State. He earned the Anteaters' lone point in a 4-1 loss to the Bruins with an impressive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spencer Johnson on court three.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
No. 3 Cal Poly (10-9, 4-2 Big West) advanced to the semis with a 4-0 win over No. 6 UC Riverside on Friday. Colter Smith and Bastiaan Weststrate have led the way in doubles where they are 13-3, and 6-0 against Big West foes, at the top of the lineup. Sean Kamyshev is the lone Mustang to reach double figures in singles victories with an 11-6 record at Nos. 4-6.

BIG WEST DOMINANCE
Noah Zamora owns a 17-1 career record against Big West opponents. He is unbeaten in his last 21 outings against conference foes (including postseason) where he is 16-0 with five matches that went unfinished. The only Big West loss of his three-year career came against Cal Poly on April 3, 2022. 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 time at UCI, the San Diego native is 38-12 (.760) in dual-match singles.
 
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 9-5 at No. 1 with three of his losses coming against ranked opponents. He had a clutch three-set win over Noah Berry to clinch UC Irvine's 4-3 victory over Cal Poly on April 6. Last year, Luque Rico went 10-6 to earn first-team All-Big West honors. Over his collegiate career, he owns a 47-23 dual-match singles record.
 
TWENTY AND COUNTING
In just his 26th decision in his collegiate dual-match career, junior Rithvik Krishna recorded his 20th win. This year, he has gone 10-5 while playing at Nos. 2-5. Krishna, who is in his third season at UCI, owns a .703 win percentage (26-11). Last year, he earned an All-Big West honorable mention nod.
 
ON THE RISE
Junior Lawee Sherif has been on a tear this season as he is tied for second on the squad with 10 singles victories, while boasting a .769 win percentage (10-3). He has more dual-match singles wins in 2024 than he had in his first two campaigns combined.
 
YEAR FIVE
UCI 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 are 60-30 in dual matches. 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 42.
 
DOUBLE DUTY
Senior Brandon Park earned first-team All-Big West honors in doubles and was a second-team selection in singles last year. This season, he has played primarily doubles where he has 13 overall wins including nine in dual matches. Park transferred to UCI from Pacific prior to the 2023 campaign.
 
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 on Feb. 25 and in singles, where he is 7-2, on March 5. Sakagawa spent the last four years at Arizona. In his first season at UC Irvine, Sakagawa is 9-6 in singles.

BLUE CHIP
Freshman Andy 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. At UCI, Nguyen is 16-5 overall and 10-3 in dual matches.
 
UP NEXT
The Big West tournament champion receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.