California Irvine Athletics

LMU (3-6) at
No. 41 UC Irvine (7-3)
Date: Sunday, March 9
Time: 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - No. 41 UC Irvine men's tennis is back in action on Sunday, March 9, when it welcomes Loyola Marymount to Anteater Tennis Stadium for a 12 p.m. match.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UC Irvine came in at No. 41 in the ITA Division I Men's Top 75 Team Rankings released on March 4.
• The 'Eaters have been ranked as high as No. 36 this 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 Anteaters are home for the first nine of their 10 matches in the month of March.
• UC Irvine's match against Grand Canyon scheduled for 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. 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
No. 41 UC Irvine continued its winning ways with a 7-0 victory over Villanova on Tuesday, March 4, at Anteater Tennis Stadium. The 'Eaters extended their win streak to three and came out on top for the sixth time in their last seven matches. The Wildcats took the early advantage in doubles with a 6-2 triumph at No. 2. Just minutes later, Sohrob Amiryavari and Lawee Sherif closed out their third-straight victory, defeating Evan Ancu/Justin Frattarelli, 6-2, on court three. The doubles point came down to the top of the lineup where the Anteaters' 90th-ranked duo of Andy Nguyen and Noah Zamora finished strong for the 6-4 win. UCI was dominant in singles where it did not drop a set. Ruining Huang set the tone as he made quick work of Thomas Wakefield, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 3. Amiryavari followed with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Cameron Kruep at the fifth position. Max Fardanesh delivered the match-clinching point on court four where he upended Kush Anand, 6-2, 6-1. No. 54 Noah Zamora and Rithvik Krishna won their respective matches at one and two, while Mason Bui outlasted Quincy Jones, 6-1, 7-5, in his dual-match debut at No. 6.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
LMU (3-6) won its last two matches, defeating Utah on Feb. 16 and Cal Poly on Feb. 14. The Lions are scheduled to face BYU in La Jolla on Friday, March 7, before making their way to Irvine. Cesar Cruz leads LMU with five singles wins coming at Nos. 3-5. Sebastian Nothhaft is 4-2 at No. 2, while Arthur Pantino has picked up two victories at the top of the lineup. Cruz and Nothhaft have also paired up for a team-best three doubles victories at No. 1.

FAMILIAR FOE
This is the fifth-straight year UC Irvine will square off against LMU. The Lions have won the last two meetings, winning by a 4-3 score on Feb. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles and on Feb. 4, 2023, in Irvine. The Anteaters had come out on top in the previous two, defeating LMU on the road, 4-0 (March 6, 2022) and 4-3 (Jan. 31, 2021). The teams also faced each other at the LMU Invitational in the fall with the 'Eaters taking five of six singles and two of three doubles matches.

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, leads the squad with six dual match singles wins while playing at the top two spots in the lineup. All six 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 54-25 dual match record. Individually, all three have at least 25 overall singles wins. Zamora leads the way at 61-28 (42-15 dual), while Krishna is 47-25 (31-14 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 missed the last seven matches.

ENTERING THE MIX
UC Irvine brings in four newcomers with two transfers and a pair of true freshmen. Ruining Huang, a freshman from Hangzhou, Zhejuang, China, is tied for second on the team with five dual-match singles victories. Graduate transfer Sohrob Amiryavari (UNLV) is also 3-1 in singles and 5-4 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 is set to host Navy on Thursday, March 13, and Yale on Friday, March 14.