California Irvine Athletics

UC Irvine (7-5) at
No. 63 Boise State (15-6)
Date: Sunday, March 22
Time: 8:30 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Appleton Tennis Center - Boise, Idaho
Watch // Live Results

Dartmouth (11-4) at
UC Irvine (7-5)
Date: Thursday, March 26
Time: 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team closes out non-conference action with two matches next week. The Anteaters will start on the road with a trip to Boise State for an 8:30 a.m. (PDT) showdown on Sunday, March 22. The 'Eaters then return home to host Dartmouth on Thursday, March 26.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UCI won four matches in four days last week to improve to 7-0 at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
• Four of UC Irvine's five losses this season have come to teams ranked among the top-60 in the nation.
• Hiroki Sakagawa and Max Fardanesh have combined for three Big West Player of the Week awards this year.
• In 2025, the 'Eaters won their second-straight Big West Championship, and third in the last four seasons.
• Mike Saunders is the back-to-back Big West Coach of the Year, winning his second and third career honor in 2024 and 2025.
• The Anteaters have five returners from last year's squad that went 18-6, while bringing in five newcomers.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine completed a perfect 4-0 homestand with a 4-2 victory over Air Force on Saturday, March 14, at Anteater Tennis Stadium. In doubles, Sohrob Amiryavari and Alex Guajardo were dominant in a 6-0 shutout over Caden Lee and Matthew Staton on court three. Max Fardanesh and Rohan Sachdev followed with a 6-2 victory over Jack Brown/Tyler Leaird at No. 1 to give UCI the early lead. The Anteaters quickly went up 2-0 in singles as Hiroki Sakagawa cruised past Phillip Deaton, 6-2, 6-2, at the top of the lineup. The Falcons responded with hard-fought wins at Nos. 4 and 2 to even the score. UC Irvine rose to the challenge, starting with a comeback effort from Greg Gamal at the sixth position. Gamal rebounded from a first-set loss to take down Staton, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Ruining Huang then clinched the victory with an impressive 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 win over Alex Fritzinger at No. 5.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 63 Boise State improved to 15-6 on the year with a 4-3 victory over DePaul last Saturday. The Broncos will host Nevada (March 20) before welcoming the Anteaters to Appleton Tennis Center. Avery Tallakson, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Week, is 7-3 in dual-match singles with five of his victories coming at the top of the lineup. Julius Seifert has a team-best 10-2 record while playing at Nos. 3-6. 

Dartmouth (11-4) brings a three-match win streak into its West Coast trip where it will face Santa Clara (March 21), LMU (March 24), and UC Irvine (March 26). Miles Groom and Henry Ren own a 12-5 doubles record, and the duo came in at No. 78 in the latest ITA Rankings.

MAX EFFORT
Max Fardanesh was named the Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week on March 18. Fardanesh was recognized after leading UC Irvine to four wins in four days as he went 3-1 in singles and 3-0 in doubles. He was one of only two Anteaters to be in both the singles and doubles lineup for every match. In the back end of a doubleheader, Fardanesh teamed up with Rohan Sachdev for a 6-3 win at No. 1 to secure the crucial doubles point against Army. UCI pulled ahead 3-0 in singles before the Black Knights rallied to tie it up. It came down to the top of the lineup where Fardanesh, who was playing his fourth match and was well into his fifth hour on the court for the day, was in a third set against Jackson Armistead. Fardanesh fought through the fatigue to gut out a 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 win for the 'Eaters. On the season, he leads the team with five doubles wins and also has four singles wins, all of which have come at Nos. 1 and 2. Fardanesh earned All-Big West honorable mention recognition last year.

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. Sakagawa is tied for the team lead with a 7-2 singles record, all at the top of the lineup. One of those wins came against a ranked opponent as the Chiba, Japan, native defeated No. 103 Manvydas Balciunas of 11th-ranked San Diego, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 on Feb. 6. Sakagawa was rewarded for that effort with his first career Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor (Feb. 11). He claimed the award again two weeks later after defeating Finn Dyer of Saint Mary's, 7-5, 6-4, and Aleksi Lofman of San Diego State, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. His victory over Lofman clinched UCI's 4-3 win against the Aztecs.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman Greg Gamal has been a steady force in the Anteaters' singles lineup. Gamal is tied with Sakagawa for the team lead at 7-2, while playing at Nos. 5 and 6. The Villa Park native is on a seven-match win streak as he has not lost since the opener at Grand Canyon on Jan. 31. Freshman Alex Guajardo has played in 11 doubles matches where he has won three of his last four decisions alongside Sohrob Amiryavari. The duo shut out their opponent from Air Force, 6-0, last Saturday. 

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 72-33 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. 

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. 

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 UCI's recent success, and this year is no different as the Anteaters added depth and experience with Rohan Sachdev and Tal Goodman. Sachdev came to Irvine 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.

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 begin Big West play on the road, traveling to UC Davis for a 2 p.m. match on Tuesday, March 31.