LOS ANGELES – The UC Irvine men's tennis team fell to No. 12 UCLA, 7-0, in its season opener at Los Angeles Tennis Center.
 
It was a tough early test for the Anteaters who went up against a Bruins' lineup that featured three ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams.
 
In doubles, No. 19 Spencer Johnson/Emon van Loben Sels defeated Max Fardanesh and Tal Goodman, 6-1. The 47th-ranked duo of Rudy Quan/Aadarsh Tripathi then secured the doubles point with a 6-2 win against Rohan Sachdev and Hiroki Sakagawa. Sachdev, a graduate transfer from Georgia Tech, was making his UCI debut.

The 'Eaters forced a third set in three of the six singles matches and were three points away from being up a set on four courts. At the third spot, Max Fardanesh took the opener against No. 20 Emon van Loben Sels, 6-3. van Loben Sels then bounced back for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 match-clinching victory.

At the top of the lineup, Hiroki Sakagawa held a one-set lead over No. 75 Spencer Johnson. Johnson then pulled out a tiebreaker in the second frame before carrying the momentum to a 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 10-5 win.
 
At No. 4, Sohrob Amiryavari held a 5-4 advantage in the first set before falling to former Anteater Andy Nguyen in a tiebreaker. Amiryavari regrouped and cruised to a 6-1 win in the second, but Nguyen ultimately came out on top, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 13-11. On court six, freshman Greg Gamal was also up 5-4 (30-30) when his opponent, Cassius Chinlund, rallied for a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
 
UCI will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 31, when it hosts Grand Canyon at the Racquet Club of Irvine. First serve is set for 1 p.m.