California Irvine Athletics

Saint Mary's (5-4) at
UC Irvine (0-4)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 21
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

San Diego State (2-7) at
UC Irvine (0-4)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 22
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team is home for two matches this weekend as it is set to host Saint Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 21, and San Diego State on Sunday, Feb. 22. First serve on both days is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• Three of UC Irvine's first four opponents have been ranked among the top-25 in the nation.
• The Anteaters will play their first home matches on campus after hosting GCU at the Racquet Club of Irvine on Jan. 31.
• In 2025, the 'Eaters won their second-straight Big West Championship, and third in the last four seasons.
• Mike Saunders took home his third Big West Coach of the Year award in 2025.
• The Anteaters have five returners from last year's squad that went 18-6, while bringing in five newcomers.
• Junior Max Fardanesh and graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa have both earned All-Big West honors in their UCI careers.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine was last in action on Feb. 8 when it fell at No. 21 USC, 4-0. The Trojans took the doubles point with 6-2 wins on courts one and three. With a 1-0 lead, USC proceeded to secure straight-set singles victories at Nos. 6, 5, and 4 to clinch the match. The top three spots in the lineup went unfinished. After dropping a first-set tiebreaker at the third position, Tal Goodman went up 2-0 on Niels Hoffmann in the second before their match was abandoned. Max Fardanesh also held a 2-1 edge in the second frame as he was looking to bounce back from a narrow 7-6 (8) loss to Max Exsted on court two.

HIROKI'S RETURN
Graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa, who missed last season with an injury, has made his presence felt in his return to the court. Through the Anteaters' first four matches, Sakagawa owns a 2-1 singles record at the top of the lineup. He earned his first dual victory of the 2026 campaign on Jan. 31 when he took down Grand Canyon's Andreas Loizas, 6-2, 6-4. The Chiba, Japan, native followed that performance with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 win over No. 103 Manvydas Balciunas of 11th-ranked San Diego. Sakagawa earned his first career Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week award on Feb. 11.

SCOUTING THE GAELS
Saint Mary's (5-4) is coming off a 5-0 setback at Cal on Saturday, Feb. 14. Juan Pedro Etchecoin leads the Gaels with five dual-match singles wins while playing at Nos. 3-5. Finn Dyer and Thibaud Maxant are SMC's top doubles team with a 5-3 record at No. 1. UCI and Saint Mary's have met four times in the last seven years. The Anteaters won all four of those meetings including a 4-0 sweep in Moraga last year (Feb. 22, 2025).

A GLANCE AT THE AZTECS
San Diego State defeated Utah, 4-3, last Saturday, Feb. 14, to move to 2-7 on the season. Aleksi Lofman, a transfer from LSU, led the way with wins at No. 1 singles and doubles. He was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for his effort. UC Irvine won its third-straight against the Aztecs last year, taking down SDSU, 4-3, on the road (Jan. 25, 2025).

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS
UC Irvine is coming off its second-straight Big West Championship, and third in the last four years (2022, 2024, 2025). Since 2022, the Anteaters have compiled a 65-32 dual match record. During that stretch, they also produced six All-Big West doubles teams, and 16 all-conference selections in singles, with eight being first-team honorees. This season, UCI is hoping to continue its recent success with a slightly different look. Although they have five returners with three who saw significant playing time in the 2025 title run, the 'Eaters graduated several members of the core group from the last four years, including Big West Player of the Year Noah Zamora.

CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE
Two years ago, Hiroki Sakagawa led UCI to the 2024 Big West Championship, delivering the match-clinching singles victory in both the semifinal and final. He earned first-team All-Big West honors in singles and second-team recognition in doubles. In 2025, Sakagawa led from the sideline while missing the dual-match campaign with an injury. He is the only member of this year's squad that was on the team for each of the Anteaters' last two conference titles. The experience and maturity he brings will be vital for the 'Eaters who have five underclassmen, including three true freshmen.

Graduate student Sohrob Amiryavari, junior Max Fardanesh, and sophomore Ruining Huang also played a significant role in the team's 2025 Big West Championship in their first year as Anteaters. Fardanesh led the trio, garnering All-Big West honorable mention distinction in singles. He went 12-3 in dual matches and 5-0 in conference. Fardanesh closed out the year on an eight-match win streak, including three straight-set victories at the conference tournament. Amiryavari finished his first campaign in the Blue & Gold with nine wins, capped by a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Blake Kasady of seventh-ranked San Diego in the NCAA tournament. Huang also had eight victories playing primarily at the fourth position as a true freshman.

BIG TIME ADDITIONS
Graduate transfers have been key to UC Irvine's recent success, and this year will be no different as the Anteaters add depth and experience with Rohan Sachdev and Tal Goodman. Sachdev comes to UCI from Georgia Tech, which was ranked for a majority of his three seasons with the program. Sachdev was also a member of the Yellow Jackets' 2024 NCAA tournament team. Goodman spent the last four years at Penn where he was ranked as high as 74th in doubles. Last year, the Quakers went 21-9 and finished the season ranked 50th in the nation.

ENTERING THE MIX
The 'Eaters have four local underclassmen in sophomore Mason Bui, and true freshmen Nathaniel Suh, Alex Guajardo, and Greg Gamal. Suh and Guajardo are both five-star recruits, while Gamal was an all-Orange County selection at Villa Park High School, where he led the Spartans to the program's first appearance in the CIF-Southern Section final. Bui, who played in two dual matches last year, was a league champion and two-time CIF Ojai semifinalist at Yorba Linda High School.

FALL HIGHLIGHTS
Max Fardanesh led UC Irvine with six singles wins during the fall season. He advanced to the semifinals of the Big West Fall Invitational, finishing the tournament at 4-1, including a ranked victory over No. 68 Diogo Morais of UC Santa Barbara. He also teamed up with Ruining Huang for a semifinal appearance in the doubles draw. At the ITA Southwest Regional Championships, Mason Bui and Nathaniel Suh made it to the Round of 16 in doubles with impressive wins over their opponents from UC San Diego and Pepperdine.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine will be back in action on Tuesday, March 3, when it welcomes Villanova to Anteater Tennis Stadium.