IRVINE, Calif. - The 46th-ranked UC Irvine men's tennis team closed out the regular season with a 4-2 victory over UC Davis Saturday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
 
UCI (15-4, 5-1 Big West) clinched the No. 2 seed in next weekend's Big West Championships and will face UC Riverside in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 25.
 
The Aggies (13-6, 4-2 Big West) took the early lead as they clinched the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3.
 
Like they have done all season, the 'Eaters bounced back in singles, taking four of the five completed matches. They finished with a 20-5 singles record in six Big West contests.
 
Max Fardanesh set the tone early with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Rithvik Katpelly at the fifth position to tie it up at 1-1.
 
Andy Nguyen then took down Lucas Bollinger, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 2 to give the Anteaters the lead. Nguyen, who extended his unbeaten streak to 16 matches (13-0), is tops on the squad with a dual match singles record of 14-2.
 
Noah Zamora and Ryan Torres, who shared the Big West Freshman of the Year award in 2022, were pitted against each other at the top of the lineup. Zamora was dominant in the opening set before Torres came back to take the second. It was all Zamora in the third frame as he closed out the 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win to improve to 22-1 against Big West opponents in his four-year career.
 
UC Davis stayed alive momentarily with a three-set victory on court three. About a minute later, Sohrob Amiryavari delivered the match-clinching point. After splitting the first two sets against Perry DiGiulio, Amiryavari raced out to a 5-0 lead in the third. He then thwarted DiGiulio's comeback effort by holding serve to secure the decisive 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 win.
 
The 'Eaters recognized their accomplished graduating class of Rithvik Krishna, Hiroki Sakagawa, Lawee Sherif and Noah Zamora following the victory.
 
UC Irvine will make its way to Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego for the Big West Championships, April 25-27. The second-seeded Anteaters, who are the defending champions, will square off against No. 7 seed UC Riverside in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 25.