SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Junior Max Fardanesh went 3-0 in singles and doubles to lead the UC Irvine men's tennis team at the Big West Fall Invite Friday in Santa Barbara.
 
After winning his two main draw singles matches yesterday, Fardanesh was pitted against host UC Santa Barbara's Diogo Morais in the quarterfinals. Morais, who finished the 2025 campaign ranked 122nd in the nation, held the early advantage, taking the first set, 6-4. He was then on the brink of closing it out in two as the Gaucho held a 6-5 (40-0) lead. Fardanesh then dug deep, saving four match points to break serve and force a tiebreaker. Fardanesh continued to roll, running away with the 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory.
 
Sohrob Amiryavari fell in the quarterfinal round to Jovan Lubbe of Cal Poly, 6-4, 6-0. In extra matches, Tal Goodman defeated UCSB's Matei Gavrea, 6-1, 7-5.
 
Doubles play got underway on Friday with Fardanesh and Ruining Huang going 2-0 to secure a spot in Saturday's semifinals. The Anteater duo cruised to an 8-3 victory over UC San Diego's Abhinav Chunduru/Michael Fourticq in the Round of 16, before outlasting Lucca Liu/Morais, 8-7 (5) in the quarterfinals. Goodman and Amiryavari came up short against Miguel Avendano Cadena/Conrad Brown (UCSB), 8-4.
 
Four 'Eaters were also in action at the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic at USD's Skip & Hogan Tennis Center. UCI won both its doubles matches against Navy. Mason Bui/Alexander Guajardo upended Aniketh Ayinala/Herrick Legaspi, 6-3, while Nathaniel Suh/Greg Gamal took down J.J. Etterbeek/George Cutone, 6-4. Guajardo highlighted singles action with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ayinala.

UC Irvine is back in action at both the Big West Fall Invite and San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic on Saturday.