TULSA, Okla. - UC Irvine men's tennis kicked off its 2024 fall season with the first day of pre-qualifying at the ITA All-American Championships Saturday at Case Tennis Center.
 
In the doubles Round of 32, the 90th-ranked duo of Hiroki Sakagawa and Noah Zamora were locked in a tight battle with Princeton's Top Nidunjianzan/Ellis Short. The Anteaters rebounded from a first-set loss to force a super tiebreak, but were unable to close it out in a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 loss.
 
Sakagawa also dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Henry Ruger of Vanderbilt in the pre-qualifying singles Round of 128.
 
Sakagawa will be back in action tomorrow with a consolation singles match against Pablo Perez Ramos of NJIT. Sakagawa/Zamora are also slated to face Jordan Hasson/Bruno Nhavene of Oklahoma in a consolation doubles match.

Zamora, who came in at No. 121 in the ITA Preseason Rankings, is set to begin singles play in the main draw on Wednesday, Sept. 25.