California Irvine Athletics

IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine men's tennis is one week away from its first dual match of the 2025 campaign.
 
In 2024, the Anteaters won their second Big West title in the last three seasons. They will be looking to repeat as tournament champions for the first time since 2010 and 2011. The 'Eaters return five letterwinners from last year's championship squad, while adding four talented newcomers to the mix.
 
"It's an honor and a joy to coach this team," head coach Mike Saunders said of his 2024-25 squad. "Our team culture is as good as it's ever been. These guys are inspired and show up every day motivated to learn, grow and get better. They push and support each other, and they believe in themselves and one another."
 
2024 BIG WEST CHAMPS
UC Irvine is coming off its second Big West Championship in the last three years. In 2024, the second-seeded Anteaters defeated No. 3 Cal Poly, 4-1, in the semifinals to set up a meeting with top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the final for the third-straight year. In the championship match, the 45th-ranked Gauchos won the doubles point, but the 'Eaters came storming back as they took the first four singles matches to clinch the 4-1 victory. Hiroki Sakagawa delivered the final point with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) triumph over Gianluca Brunkow on court two. UCI then made the trek to Fort Worth, Texas, for the program's 13th NCAA Division I tournament appearance. The Anteaters fell to fourth-ranked TCU, which went on to win the NCAA title. UC Irvine closed out the campaign with a 17-7 record and a No. 69 national ranking.
 
AMONG THE BEST IN THE NATION
Senior Noah Zamora enters the 2025 campaign ranked 31st in the nation in singles. Zamora had an impressive fall season in which he became the first Anteater to compete in the NCAA Singles Championships since 2011, and the first to advance in the tournament since 1989 as he upset No. 13 Sebastian Dominko of Notre Dame in the Round of 64. Zamora qualified for his first NCAA Individual Championship as a finalist at the ITA Southwest Regional where he opened the tournament with five-straight wins including a victory over No. 109 Casper Christensen of Arizona in the quarterfinals. Zamora added another ranked win at the ITA All-American Championships where he defeated No. 64 Miguel Perez Pena of Georgia, 7-5, 6-3. Sophomore Andy Nguyen also had a pair of ranked victories during the fall, taking down No. 52 Iiro Vasa of San Diego, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 125 Nicholas Godsick of Stanford, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
 
LEAVING A LEGACY
UC Irvine's four seniors will be looking to cement their legacy in 2025. Noah Zamora, Rithvik Krishna and Lawee Sherif have led the Anteaters to a pair of Big West Championships (2022, 2024) and a share of the regular-season title (2023) in their time at UCI. Since their arrival in 2021-22, the 'Eaters have boasted a 47-22 dual-match record. Individually, all three have at least 25 overall singles wins. Zamora leads the way with a 58-25 record (39-12 dual). He has been even better in conference where he is 13-1 during the regular season and 5-0 in Big West postseason matches. Graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa was also a key member of UC Irvine's 2024 championship squad as the Arizona transfer finished with 18 overall singles wins and 10 doubles victories in his first season as an Anteater.
 
ENTERING THE MIX
UC Irvine brings in four newcomers with two transfers and a pair of true freshmen. Mason Bui is a four-star recruit out of Yorba Linda High School. He was a two-time Crestview League singles champion and four-time all-league performer. As a senior, Bui advanced to the semifinals of the CIF Ojai Tournament. Ruining Huang is a freshman from Hangzhou, Zhejuang, China. Huang was a U14 national singles champion and also won the 2020 Senior High School singles championship. Sohrob Amiryavari is a graduate transfer from UNLV, while Max Fardanesh comes to UCI with three years of eligibility after competing one season at UC Davis. Fardanesh also attended UCLA for one year but was not a member of the tennis program. He was a five-star recruit and ranked as high as No. 8 nationally for the 2021 class on TennisRecruiting.net.
 
SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS
UC Irvine opens the 2025 dual-match campaign with four tough road tests as it travels to UCLA (Jan. 17), Pepperdine (Jan. 18), USC (Jan. 20) and San Diego State (Jan. 26), prior to hosting Pacific in its home opener on February 7. Following a trip to Northern California for matches at Saint Mary's and Stanford, the 'Eaters will be home for nine-straight from March 1-23. UCI then opens Big West play at Hawai'i on March 29. UC Irvine has three home conference matches, highlighted by an April 12 showdown with UC Santa Barbara. The Big West Championships will be held at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, April 25-27.