2024-25 Year in Review: Top Moments

In 2024-25, the Anteaters raised the bar again, winning UC Irvine Athletics' first-ever Big West Commissioner's Cup. It was a year filled with conference championships, record-breaking performances and upset wins. UCI wraps up its Year-in-Review with a look back at some of the top moments from another successful season.

September 10, 2024: Women’s golf captured the Wolverine Invitational title for their first tournament win since 2017. The Anteaters’ victory came in record-breaking fashion as they topped the 10-team field with a score of 11-under 853 (283-286-284) for the lowest 54-hole total in program history. Alona Avery claimed runner-up honors with a 207, which was UCI’s third-best three-round total.

September 21, 2024: Men’s soccer player Agaton Pourshahidi recorded the program’s first hat trick since 2010 in a 4-2 win over Utah Tech. Pourshahidi scored in the 16th and 32nd minutes, and punctuated the victory with his third strike in the 80th minute.

September 27, 2024: Men’s water polo upset three-time defending national champion and sixth-ranked Cal, 13-5, at the Anteater Aquatics Complex. It was UCI’s first win over the Golden Bears since 2012, and the program’s largest margin of victory in the all-time series. Zayd Mahmoud led the defense with 11 saves. 

Later in the evening, women’s volleyball completed a reverse sweep on the road (21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-13) for their second all-time win against Hawai’i. Hunter Riedl was dominant, putting away a match and season-high 21 kills, while hitting .423.

October 5, 2024: Men’s water polo earned their second upset in back-to-back weekends, taking down No. 4 Pepperdine, 20-10. It was tied for the most goals the Waves allowed all season. Luka Krstic powered the offense with seven goals and three assists for 10 points. He was the first ‘Eater to have a 10-point game in four years.

October 8, 2024: Men’s golf won their season-opening tournament, taking home the team title at the Oregon State Invitational. The Anteaters combined for a 54-hole score of 4-under 848 (288-275-285) to beat the host Beavers by two strokes. It was UCI’s first stroke play tournament victory since 2018.

October 18, 2024: Women’s volleyball had another thrilling five-set comeback win, beating Black & Blue Rival Long Beach State, 26-28, 25-23, 16-25, 25-17, 17-15, at the Walter Pyramid. The Anteaters were trailing 13-9 in the fifth frame before outscoring the Beach, 8-2, to close out the match. Libero Campbell Jensen had two of her career-high five aces during a late 5-0 run. As a team, UCI finished with a season-high 14 aces. It was UC Irvine’s first win in Long Beach since 2018.

November 2, 2024: Anna Vogtmann broke her own 6K school record and claimed runner-up honors at the Big West Women’s Cross Country Championships in Riverside. Vogtmann clocked in at 19:49.3, improving her previous standard that was set on the same course in 2022 by three seconds. Her second-place conference showing was the best by an Anteater since 2008.

November 8, 2024: Men’s water polo defeated Cal State Fullerton, 21-7, to complete a perfect Big West season at 5-0. The Anteaters claimed their second-straight regular season conference title.

November 23, 2024: Women’s volleyball secured the first season series sweep of Hawai’i in program history with a 3-1 win on Senior Day at the Bren Events Center. It was UCI’s third all-time win against the Rainbow Wahine. In addition, the victory earned the Anteaters a berth into the 2024 Big West Championships. 

November 30, 2024: Men’s basketball defeated Towson, 67-60, to win the Western Slam Championship in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. The victory made the Anteaters one of only six teams in the nation to start the season at 8-0. Following the tournament, UCI moved up to No. 1 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Rankings and was receiving votes in both the AP and USA Today Polls. 

January 11, 2025: Jazzmine Davis, Lauren Aquino, Ihe Okoh and Amelia Trautman set the tone for the women’s indoor track & field season as they combined for a school-record 3:47.41 to win the 4x400 relay at the Silver & Blue Invitational in Reno, Nevada. 

February 8, 2025: Malia Gay closed out an impressive weekend at the Riverfront Invitational with an individual victory in the 600m where she ran a school-record 1:32.23. Twenty-four hours earlier, Gay did the same in the 800m as she finished ahead of the pack in a program-best 2:09.52.

February 9, 2025: Women’s golf shot a 54-hole total of 880 (287-291-302) to win the UCR Soboba Classic by three strokes over the host Highlanders. It marked the first time since 2008-09 the Anteaters won a pair of tournament titles in a season. Alona Avery (3rd), Alyson Sor (5th), and Katherine Gerbing (6th) all placed among the top-10.

February 21, 2025: Women’s indoor track & field broke two school records on the first day of the MPSF Championships. While competing in the pentathlon, Jolie Robinson recorded a lifetime-best 6.04 meters (19-9.75) in the long jump to top the previous standard which she had held along with teammate Reyna Johnson. Robinson went on to claim runner-up honors in the pentathlon with a lifetime-best 3,888 points. Malia Gay, Amelia Trautman, Kaia Schmidt and Anna Vogtmann also combined to take down the school record in the distance medley relay. The quartet topped the all-time list by over 10 seconds at 11:36.11. 

February 27, 2025: Women’s basketball set two school records in their 62-34 win over Cal State Fullerton at the Bren Events Center. Nikki Tom became the Anteaters’ all-time steals leader with her 197th career takeaway. It was also the 159th career victory for head coach Tamara Inoue, making her the program’s all-time wins leader. 

March 6, 2025: Women’s basketball recorded their 20th win of the season in dramatic fashion. The Anteaters closed out the game on a 9-0 run with Nikki Tom knocking down the game-winner in the final seconds of a thrilling 55-53 victory over UC Davis at the Bren Events Center. With time winding down, the 5-foot-9 guard drained a shot from just inside the arc to give the ‘Eaters their fourth consecutive 20-win season and clinch a top-two seed in the Big West Championship.

March 12, 2025: Women’s water polo scored a school-record 28 goals in a win over Concordia at the Anteater Aquatics Complex. They surpassed the previous best of 24, which was set in 2023. Fourteen different Anteaters found the back of the net. Libby Alexander and Maja Layden led the way with a career-best five goals each.

March 19, 2025: Men’s basketball earned a No. 1 seed and regional hosting duties in their third-straight NIT appearance. The Anteaters drew Northern Colorado in the first round and after trailing by four at the half, they outscored the Bears, 45-31, over the final 20 minutes for the 82-72 victory. Devin Tillis led the way as his game-high 24 points (10-15 FG) put him in the 1,000-career point club. It was UCI’s first NIT win since 1986.

March 22, 2025: Men’s tennis earned their first ranked win of the season with a 4-3 victory over No. 62 Dartmouth. Noah Zamora tied the match up with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 win over Carlos Guerrero Alvaraez at No. 1 singles. Seconds later, Lawee Sherif secured the team victory on court five. Sherif showed incredible resilience as he responded from a tough second set, where he continued to play through an injury that turned out to be season-ending, to take down Yujiro Onuma, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

March 28, 2025: Men’s volleyball swept top-ranked Long Beach State on the road, 27-25, 25-19, 25-19. The Anteaters were dominant, hitting .472 (29-4-53) and outblocking the Beach, 7.5-to-0. The ‘Eaters handed eventual national champion LBSU its first loss of the season. 

April 1, 2025: Men’s basketball used a late 7-0 spurt to pull away and beat North Texas, 69-67, in the NIT semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It was the Anteaters’ school-record 32nd win of the season, while they advanced to the NIT championship game for the first time in program history. 

Senior baseball player Chase Call blasted a three-run home run in the first inning to break the UCI all-time record at 26 as UCI took down San Diego in a slugfest, 16-7. Call finished his career with 30 homers. 

April 4, 2025: Baseball shut out No. 11 Oregon State, 12-0, on their home field. It was the first time the Beavers had been held scoreless in Corvallis in three years. Riley Kelly and Ricky Ojeda split the game on the mound, allowing five hits and striking out 15. The offense came from the entire lineup, and was paced by James Castagnola's 3-for-3 performance. Blake Penso also finished with a home run and two RBIs.

April 18, 2025: Esmeray Demirbas, Lauren Aquino, Jazzmine Davis and Jolie Robinson broke a 13-year-old school record in the outdoor 4x400 relay at the Mt. SAC Relays. The quartet combined for a program-best 3:42.25. 

Starting pitcher Trevor Hansen went wire-to-wire for the first time in his Anteater career as he delivered UCI baseball's first complete game since the 2021 NCAA Regional. The final out was his career-high 10th strikeout to sew up the three-hit, 4-0 shutout over Hawai’i.

April 19, 2025: Just 24 hours after the masterpiece from Trevor Hansen, Ryder Brooks followed with a two-hit, complete game shutout of his own. Brooks ended the 5-0 win and series sweep over the Rainbow Warriors with his career-high 10th strikeout. Brooks and Hansen were named co-National Pitchers of the Week by the College Baseball Foundation and College Baseball Hall of Fame.

April 25, 2025: Hilir Henno fired six aces against Hawai’i in the semifinals of the Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, giving him 255 in his career to tie the NCAA all-time record.

April 27, 2025: Men’s tennis won their second-straight Big West Championship and third in the last four years. In the final, the 49th-ranked Anteaters were down 2-0 to No. 34 and top-seeded UC Santa Barbara. Rithvik Krishna, Andy Nguyen and Max Fardanesh then closed out straight-set wins on their respective singles courts to give UCI its first lead of the match. After the Gauchos tied it up at 3-3, Noah Zamora completed a thrilling 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 title-clinching win over No. 63 Gianluca Brunkow on court one. Zamora went on to be named the Big West Player of the Year.

May 17, 2025: Women’s track & field made history, winning the program’s first Big West Championship. The Anteaters held off a late Cal Poly push to claim the team title, 150.5-149. Jazzmine Davis was named the Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet after scoring 20 individual points, highlighted by an individual victory in the 400m hurdles. Luz Mercado was also the conference champion in the 800m. 

On the men’s side, Liam Miksic won his third-straight conference title in the javelin. He broke his own school record with a final throw of 71.06 meters (233-1). 

Over at Anteater Ballpark, baseball closed out a 12-10 win over Cal State Fullerton to clinch the outright Big West regular season title. It was a back-and-forth game that saw the Titans erase a a five-run deficit to tie it up at 9-9. Frankie Carney then put the ‘Eaters on top for good with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth. Alonso Reyes was an offensive catalyst, going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored.

June 1, 2025: Baseball had their season on the line in an NCAA Regional elimination game against Arizona State when Anthony Martinez's RBI on a sacrifice fly late in the game helped the ‘Eaters survive and advance. That put Martinez atop UCI's all-time sac fly list (16), and made him the Anteaters’ all-time RBI leader at 190, breaking Jeff Malinoff's 51-year-old school record.

June 11, 2025: Liam Miksic finished 12th in the men’s javelin at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships to earn second-team All-America honors. Miksic delivered the second 70-meter throw of his career as he finished the meet with a best of 70.13m (230-1). Miksic was UCI’s first NCAA Division I Championship qualifier and All-American in the men’s javelin.

June 14, 2025: Zharia Taylor tied for 16th in the women’s high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships to claim second-team All-America honors. Taylor was the first Anteater on the women’s side to advance to nationals since 2009, and the first to garner All-America distinction since 1997.