California Irvine Athletics

Navy (12-10) at
No. 44 UC Irvine (8-3)
Date: Thursday, March 13
Time: 1 p.m. (tentative depending on weather)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

No. 43 Yale (9-4) at
No. 44 UC Irvine (8-3)
Date: Friday, March 14
Time: TBD
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - No. 44 UC Irvine men's tennis continues its month-long homestand with two matches this week, starting on Thursday, March 13, when it welcomes Navy to Anteater Tennis Stadium for a 1 p.m. showdown. UCI will then host No. 43 Yale on Friday, March 14 at a time to be announced.

Start times are tentative and could change depending on weather conditions with rain in the forecast.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UC Irvine came in at No. 44 in the ITA Division I Men's Top 75 Team Rankings released on March 11.
• The 'Eaters have been ranked as high as No. 36 this season.
• The Anteaters defeated LMU on Sunday, March 9, for their fifth-straight win, improving to 8-3 on the season.
• UCI's three losses are to Stanford, USC and UCLA, all of which have been ranked in the top-25 this year.
• Senior Noah Zamora is 54th in the latest ITA national singles rankings, while Zamora/Andy Nguyen are 90th in doubles.
• The 'Eaters are home for the first eight of their nine matches in the month of March.
• UC Irvine's match against Grand Canyon scheduled for last Saturday, March 8, was canceled.

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 March 4. 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. He is unbeaten in his last seven outings with four victories and three matches that went unfinished. 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. 90 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. 41 UC Irvine extended its win streak to a season-long four matches with a 4-2 victory over LMU this past Sunday at Anteater Tennis Stadium. Andy Nguyen/Noah Zamora were first off the court in doubles, making quick work of Sebastian Nothhaft/Youssef Sadek, 6-1, at the top of the lineup. The Lions pulled even with a 6-4 triumph at the second position, leaving the doubles point up to court three where Ruining Huang/Rithvik Krishna were knotted at 6-6 with Jacopo Denitto/Nikola Kuraica. The seesaw battle resumed in the tiebreaker before UCI closed out the decisive 7-6 (7-5) win. Zamora continued his dominance in singles where he dispatched Arthur Pantino, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1. At No. 2, Nguyen also took down Nothhaft in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, to give the 'Eaters a 3-0 lead. LMU continued to put up a fight with wins on courts three and six, but Krishna then delivered the match-clinching point for the Anteaters. Krishna rebounded from a first-set loss to defeat Sadek, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, at the fourth position.

SCOUTING THE MIDS
Navy (12-10) is in the midst of a five-match week in Southern California. George Cutone leads the Mids with 10 dual-match singles victories while playing at Nos. 3-6. Herrick Legaspi is also 9-3 with a majority of his matches coming at the top two spots in the lineup. Legaspi and Charlie Spencer are undefeated as a duo this year as they are 8-0 overall and 4-0 in duals. In addition, Luke Garner and Jake Young are 5-0 at No. 1 doubles.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
No. 43 Yale improved to 9-4 on the season with a 4-0 win over Navy in Santa Barbara on Tuesday, March 10. Junior Vignesh Gogineni leads the Bulldogs as he is ranked 89th in the nation in singles. Gogineni and Edward Liao are also 82nd in doubles.

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. 28 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, leads the squad with seven dual match singles wins while playing at the top two spots in the lineup. All seven 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 first three years at UCI. Since their arrival in 2021-22, the 'Eaters have boasted a 55-25 dual match record. Individually, all three have at least 25 overall singles wins. Zamora leads the way at 62-28 (43-15 dual), while Krishna is 48-25 (32-14 dual). Sherif, who had a career-high 17 victories last season, rounds out the group with 27 wins (19 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 not played since Jan. 20.

ENTERING THE MIX
UC Irvine has four newcomers with two transfers and a pair of true freshmen. Ruining Huang, a freshman from Hangzhou, Zhejuang, China, is third on the team with five dual-match singles victories. Graduate transfer Sohrob Amiryavari (UNLV) is also 3-2 in singles and 5-5 in doubles. Sophomore transfer Max Fardanesh (UC Davis) has added three singles and three doubles victories, while freshman Mason Bui, a four-star recruit out of Yorba Linda High School, made his collegiate dual match debut with a singles win at No. 6 on March 4.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine closes out its month-long homestand by hosting Dartmouth (March 22) and Harvard (March 23) next week.