SAN DIEGO - The 44th-ranked UC Irvine men's tennis team put up a fight against No. 7 San Diego but fell just short in a 4-2 NCAA First Round loss Saturday afternoon at Hogan Tennis Center.
 
The host Toreros improve to 25-3 overall and advance to tomorrow's second round where they will face No. 28 USC.
 
In doubles, Sohrob Amiryavari and Ruining Huang went back-and-forth with Adrien Berrut/Saviryan Danilov as it was all tied up at 3-3 on court two. USD then took the next three games for the 6-3 victory. Blake Kasday and Nikhil Niranjan followed with a 6-2 win over Max Fardanesh and Rithvik Krishna at No. 3 to give San Diego the 1-0 lead.
 
The Toreros pulled ahead 2-0 with a straight-set victory at No. 3 singles.
 
Amiryavari answered with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Kasday at the sixth position to get UCI on the board.
 
USD added another point with a win on court four. Huang raced out to a 3-0 lead in the opener but was unable to hold on as he dropped the set and match to Neo Niedner, 7-5, 6-2.
 
Andy Nguyen then closed out a 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 83 Savriyan Danilov to close the gap to 3-2. Nguyen went unbeaten over his final 19 matches and finished the season with a 17-2 record.
 
The top of the lineup featured an exciting match between the WCC Player of the Year Oliver Tarvet and the Big West Player of the Year Noah Zamora. Tarvet, who is ranked third in the country, took a 5-3 lead in the first set. No. 65 Zamora came right back, winning a deuce and break point to pull even at 5-5. Tarvet then finished strong and carried the momentum into the second frame for the 7-5, 6-1 match-clinching victory.

Zamora, who is a four-time All-Big West selection in both singles and doubles, was 21-9 overall in singles and 13-5 in dual matches, all at No. 1 this season. In the fall, he was the first Anteater to make the NCAA Singles Championship 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.

Fardanesh was up 6-4, 2-6, 2-0 when his match against Berrut was abandoned on court five.
 
It was another successful season for the 'Eaters who won their second-straight Big West Championship and third in the last four years. They wrap up the 2025 campaign with an 18-6 overall record, marking their most wins in a season since 2015. UC Irvine was ranked among the top-50 in the nation in every ITA poll since February 20 with a high of No. 36.