California Irvine Athletics

VCU (4-7) at
UC Irvine (3-5)
Date: Wednesday, March 11
Time: 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Navy (14-12) at
UC Irvine (3-5)
Date: Friday, March 13
Time: 10 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Army (12-5) at
UC Irvine (3-5)
Date: Friday, March 13
Time: 2:30 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Air Force (4-5) at
UC Irvine (3-5)
Date: Saturday, March 14
Time: 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team has a busy week ahead with four home matches in four days. The Anteaters will start the homestand against VCU at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11. They will then host Navy (10 a.m.) and Army (2:30 p.m.) in a doubleheader on Friday, March 13, before closing out the weekend against Air Force on Saturday, March 14.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UCI has won its last three home matches, while Greg Gamal (4) and Sohrob Amiryavari (3) each have a singles win streak.
• Four of UC Irvine's five losses this season have come to teams ranked among the top-60 in the nation.
• 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.
• Junior Max Fardanesh and graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa have both earned All-Big West honors in their UCI careers.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to No. 55 Loyola Marymount last Saturday at the LMU Tennis Center. The Lions took the early lead, winning a tightly contested doubles point with a 6-4 victory on court three and a 7-5 triumph at the top of the lineup. In singles, LMU went up 2-0 with a straight-set win at the fifth position before Sohrob Amiryavari dispatched Kuba Hrynkiewicz, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4 to get the Anteaters on the board. The Lions followed with victories at the top-two spots to clinch the team win. At No. 1, Hiroki Sakagawa was handed his first loss since Jan. 17, falling to Max Wuelfing, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. The remaining courts played out their respective matches. Tal Goodman turned in an impressive performance, displaying his resilience as he rebounded from a second-set loss to take the match on court three, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1. Greg Gamal rounded out the day with a gutsy 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 comeback victory at No. 6.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
VCU has lost its last five matches to drop to 4-7 on the year. Sophomore Erwann Bouchet, who was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team last year, leads the Rams with seven singles victories, while classmate Gevorg Mnatsakanyan has six singles wins. Senior Alfred Almasi and sophomore Leon Zaorski also earned all-conference honors in 2025.

Navy brings a 14-12 record to Southern California where it will face UC Riverside (March 11), UC San Diego (March 11), UC Irvine (March 13), and Air Force (March 13). Senior Aniketh Ayinala leads the Midshipmen with a 9-3 record at the top-two spots in the lineup. First-team All-Patriot League selection Herrick Legaspi is also 8-4 at Nos. 1 and 2.

Army improved to 12-5 after defeating Hofstra, 4-0, and Lamar, 4-2, in a doubleheader on Sunday, March 8. Sophomore Jackson Armistead is 7-4 in singles with six of his victories coming at the top of the lineup. Armistead was a 2025 first-team All-Patriot League selection, while junior Alan Ton earned second-team recognition.

Air Force (4-5) will face Navy at the Racquet Club of Irvine on Friday before Saturday's match against the Anteaters. The Falcons return seniors and 2025 All-Mountain West selections Jack Brown and Phillip Deaton. Senior AJ Moore (Irvine), the team's 2025 MVP, and freshman Caden Lee (Tustin) are both Orange County natives.

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 seven matches, Sakagawa is tied for the team lead with four singles victories, all coming at the top of the lineup. He earned his first dual win 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 was rewarded for that effort with his first career Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor on 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.

BACK-TO-BACK
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 68-33 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. 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 are 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 UCI'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 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.

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. Gamal has seen the most playing time in singles so far as he is 4-2 and currently on a four-match win streak. His victory against Saint Mary's clinched the 4-3 team win. Guajardo has also played eight doubles matches.

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 travel to Boise State for a 12 p.m. (PDT) match on Sunday, March 22.