IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team rolled past UC Riverside, 4-0, Monday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
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The 'Eaters, who did not drop a set, won their fifth-straight match. They improved to 13-5 overall, 11-1 at home and a perfect 3-0 in Big West play. The Highlanders fell to 4-16 on the season and 0-4 in conference.
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UCI made some changes to its doubles lineup, debuting new pairs on all three courts, and it paid off.
Rahul Dhokia and
Matthew Sah made a seamless transition as they blanked Lucas Mszyca/Lucas Ibarrondo Suarez, 6-0, at No. 3.
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Andy Nguyen and
Brandon Park brought the energy on court two where they clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory over Ryan Huynh/Aarav Sane.
Hiroki Sakagawa and
Noah Zamora also led 4-3 when their match was called.
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The Anteaters kept the momentum in singles, starting at the top of the lineup where
Enrique Luque Rico dispatched Joshua Roth, 6-1, 6-0.
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Just seconds later, Zamora closed out a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Sane at No. 3. Dhokia then took down Huynh, 6-2, 6-0, for the match-clinching point at No. 5.
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The 'Eaters led on the three remaining courts that went unfinished.
Rithvik Krishna was up 6-1, 4-3 at No. 4, while Sakagawa and
Ali Amiri also won their opening sets at the second and sixth positions, respectively.
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UC Irvine will be back in action on Sunday, April 14, when it makes its way to UC Santa Barbara for a 1 p.m. Big West showdown.
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