'Eaters Begin Nine-Match Homestand This Weekend

Portland (3-3) at
No. 50 UC Irvine (4-3)
Date: Saturday, March 1
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Temple (4-3) at
No. 50 UC Irvine (4-3)
Date: Monday, March 3
Time: 11 a.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Villanova (1-6) at
No. 50 UC Irvine (4-3)
Date: Tuesday, March 4
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - No. 50 UC Irvine men's tennis will play three home matches in four days, starting with a 1 p.m. showdown against Portland on Saturday, March 1. The Anteaters are then set to host Temple on Monday, March 3 (11 a.m.) and Villanova on Tuesday, March 4 (1 p.m.).

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UC Irvine came in at No. 50 in the ITA Division I Men's Top 75 Team Rankings released on Feb. 25.
• The 'Eaters have been ranked as high as No. 36 this season.
• The Anteaters' first win of the year came at Pepperdine, which is now 23rd in the nation.
• On Sunday, UC Irvine had a three-match win streak snapped at No. 6 Stanford.
• UCI's three losses are to Stanford, USC and UCLA, all of which have been ranked in the top-25 at some point this season.
• Senior Noah Zamora is 54th in the latest ITA national singles rankings, while Zamora/Andy Nguyen are 88th in doubles.
• The Anteaters are home for the first nine of their 10 matches in the month of March.

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
Then No. 36 UC Irvine dropped a 4-0 decision at No. 6 Stanford in its last outing on Sunday, Feb. 23. The Anteaters saw a three-match win streak come to an end with their first loss since Jan. 20. Stanford took the doubles point with victories on courts two and three. The home team then earned straight-set singles wins at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 to clinch the match. The 'Eaters put up a fight at the top of the lineup with No. 54 Noah Zamora and Andy Nguyen both going to a third set against a ranked opponent. After falling to No. 18 Samir Banerjee in the opener, Zamora bounced back with a 6-3 victory in the second. Nguyen got out to an impressive start against No. 80 Max Basing at the second position with a 6-2 first-set victory. Basing regrouped for a 6-3 triumph in the second, while Nguyen was up 1-0 in the decisive frame.

SCOUTING THE PILOTS
Portland (3-3) has lost its last three matches, falling to Utah, Washington and New Mexico. Maxim Groysman has played every match at the top of the singles lineup where he is 2-3. Lucas Kimelman is tops on the squad with a 5-1 record at Nos. 4 and 5. UCI and Portland met in Irvine last season with the Anteaters taking the 6-1 victory.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
Temple is 4-3 on the season. Martim Marujo has three wins at No. 1, while Alberto Blumenschein is a perfect 4-0 at No. 6. Marujo and Adam Kresina have also teamed up for a 2-1 record at No. 1 doubles.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Villanova (1-7) will be in La Jolla for two matches before making its way to UC Irvine on Tuesday, March 4. Trey Fourticq (No. 2), Will Monahan (No. 3) and Kush Anand (No. 5) lead the Wildcats with two singles wins apiece. Cooper Gordon has played every match at the top of the lineup. UCI blanked the Wildcats in each of their last two meetings in Irvine (2022, 2024).

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. 23 in the latest ITA rankings, has made four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and boasts the second-ranked recruiting class according to Tennis Recruiting Network.

NGUYEN WINS
Andy Nguyen, the 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year, is tops on the squad with four dual match singles wins while playing at No. 2. All four 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.

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 51-25 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 45-25 (29-14 dual). Sherif, who had a career-high 17 victories last season, rounds out the group with 25 wins (17 dual). Zamora is a three-time All-Big West selection, while Krishna earned all-conference honors as a sophomore and junior.

BIG WEST DOMINANCE
Noah Zamora has been dominant 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.

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 continued his clutch performances to start the 2025 season, earning the decisive point in the Anteaters' first win over Pepperdine since 1992. Sakagawa has missed the last four matches.

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. 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 is back home next weekend, hosting Grand Canyon (March 8) and LMU (March 9).

Schedule

'Eaters Begin Nine-Match Homestand This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Sohrob Amiryavari

Mason Bui

Max Fardanesh

Ruining Huang

Rithvik Krishna

Andy Nguyen

Hiroki Sakagawa

Lawee Sherif

Noah Zamora

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