No. 36 UC Irvine (3-2) at
Saint Mary's (0-6)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 22
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: Timothy Korth Tennis Complex - Moraga, Calif.

No. 36 UC Irvine (3-2) at
No. 6 Stanford (7-2)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 23
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: Taube Tennis Center - Stanford, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - No. 36 UC Irvine men's tennis heads to Northern California for two matches this weekend, starting with a visit to Saint Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 22. The Anteaters then make their way to No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, Feb. 23. First serve for both matches is set for 1 p.m.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UC Irvine came in at No. 36 in the ITA Division I Men's Top 75 Team Rankings released on Feb. 20.
• The 'Eaters have won their last two, defeating San Diego State on the road (Jan. 25) and Pacific at home (Feb. 7).
• UCI's first win of the year came at Pepperdine, which is now ranked 21st in the nation.
• Senior Noah Zamora is 54th in the latest ITA national singles rankings, while Zamora/Andy Nguyen are 88th in doubles.
• In the fall, Zamora upset No. 13 Sebastian Dominko to advance to the Round of 32 at the NCAA Singles Championships.
• UCI returns five letterwinners and four all-conference performers from last year's Big West Championship squad.
• Nguyen was the 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year, while Mike Saunders earned his second career Coach of the Year award.
• Nguyen, Zamora and Hiroki Sakagawa also garnered all-conference distinction in both singles and doubles.
• In addition, Rithvik Krishna made the All-Big West Second Team in singles.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE NATION
Senior Noah Zamora came in at No. 54 in the latest NCAA Division I men's singles rankings released by the ITA on Feb. 20. Zamora picked up his fourth ranked win of the 2024-25 season after taking down No. 99 Tiago Silva of Pacific, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4, on Feb. 7. During the fall, he was 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, who punched his NCAA ticket with a runner-up showing at the ITA Southwest Regional, also defeated No. 64 Miguel Perez (Georgia) and No. 109 Casper Christensen (Arizona) in the fall. As a duo, No. 88 Andy Nguyen/Noah Zamora earned a signature 6-3 win over then No. 10 Alexander Hoogmartens/Aadarsh Tripathi of UCLA in the opener on Jan. 17. 

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine dug deep for a 4-2 victory in a tightly-contested match against Pacific at Anteater Tennis Stadium on Friday, Feb. 7. After a one-hour weather delay, the Tigers got out to a quick start, taking a 2-0 lead as they won the doubles point and claimed the first singles match at No. 3. The Anteaters then got rolling as Andy Nguyen dispatched Ran Amar, 6-2, 6-3, at the second position. Ruining Huang followed with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Vraj Patel at No. 4 to bring UCI even. Sohrob Amiryavari then put the 'Eaters on top with another straight-set win, upending Nico Rating, 6-3, 6-3, on court six. In the final two matches, both Noah Zamora and Max Fardanesh forced a decisive third frame. At the top of the lineup, No. 52 Zamora was pitted against No. 99 Tiago Silva, and the ranked battle lived up to the billing. After dropping a first-set tiebreaker, Zamora regrouped for a 6-2 victory in the second and raced out to a 5-2 advantage in the third. Silva battled back, winning the next two games, but Zamora held steady to close out the 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4 match-clinching victory.

SCOUTING THE GAELS
Saint Mary's (0-6) is searching for its first win of the season. The Gaels are coming off a tough 4-3 loss to Nevada on Feb. 15. Carlos Ramos Membrives leads SMC with three singles victories, including two at the top of the lineup.

SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
No. 6 Stanford (7-2) is coming off a 2-1 weekend at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships where it defeated No. 6 Columbia and No. 21 UCF before falling to top-ranked TCU. No. 18 Samir Banerjee (5-2) and No. 80 Max Basing (5-2) have paced the Cardinal at the top two spots in the singles lineup, while Alex Razeghi is 6-2 at the sixth position. Sunday will mark the first meeting between UCI and Stanford since 2010.

BIG ROAD WIN
UC Irvine was trailing 3-2 when Rithvik Krishna and Hiroki Sakagawa came up clutch for a 4-3 victory over Pepperdine at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Jan. 18. Krishna kept the 'Eaters alive as he outlasted Lasse Poertner, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, at the fourth spot. Sakagawa then delivered the match-clincher, taking down Aleksa Pisanic, 7-6 (6), 6-4, at No. 3. The Anteaters ended a 23-match drought in the all-time series with their first win over the Waves since 1992. Pepperdine, which came in at No. 21 in the latest ITA rankings, has made four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and boasts the second-ranked recruiting class according to Tennis Recruiting Network. 

LEAVING A LEGACY
Fourth-year seniors Noah Zamora, Rithvik Krishna and Lawee Sherif will be looking to add to their legacy in 2025. The trio helped the Anteaters to a pair of Big West Championships (2022, 2024) and a co-Big West regular-season title (2023) in their time at UCI. Since their arrival in 2021-22, the 'Eaters have boasted a 50-24 dual match record. Individually, all three have at least 25 overall singles wins. Zamora leads the way at 60-28 (41-15 dual), while Krishna is 44-24 (28-13 dual). Sherif, who had a career-high 17 victories last season, rounds out the group with 25 wins (17 dual).

BIG WEST DOMINANCE
Noah Zamora has been even better in Big West play with an 18-1 career record. He is unbeaten in his last 23 outings against conference foes (including postseason) where he is 17-0 with six matches that went unfinished. The only Big West loss of his career came against Cal Poly on April 3, 2022. Zamora is a three-time all-conference selection in both singles and doubles, and he was named the 2022 Big West Freshman of the Year. 

NGUYEN WINS
Andy Nguyen, the 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year, is tops on the squad with three dual singles wins while playing every match at No. 2. All three of his victories came in straight sets. During the fall, Nguyen also took down two ranked opponents, upsetting No. 52 Iiro Vasa of San Diego and No. 125 Nicholas Godsick of Stanford.

OUR HIRO
Graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa is back for his second season with the Anteaters after transferring from Arizona. Sakagawa was a key member of the 2024 Big West Championship squad as he clinched UCI's wins in both the semifinals and finals. He garnered first-team all-conference honors in singles and second-team recognition in doubles. Sakagawa has continued his clutch performances in 2025 as he secured the decisive point in the Anteaters' first win over Pepperdine since 1992.

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. Ruining Huang is a freshman from Hangzhou, Zhejuang, China. Huang was a U14 national singles champion and 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 was a five-star recruit and ranked as high as No. 8 nationally for the 2021 class on TennisRecruiting.net.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine begins a nine-match homestand next weekend when it hosts Portland at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 1.