Sakagawa Repeats as Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week
April 15, 2026 | Men's Tennis
IRVINE, Calif. β Graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa earned his second-straight Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week award the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon.
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Sakagawa was recognized for a conference-leading fourth time this season after going 2-0 at No. 1 singles with a ranked winΒ last week. On Friday, April 10, he defeated Jovan Lubbe of Cal Poly in straight sets to clinch UC Irvine's 4-2 team victory. After taking a 5-3 lead, Sakagawa kept his composure through a late rally as he went on to edge Lubbe in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7). Sakagawa rode that momentum to a resounding 6-1 win in the second. Earlier in the match, he teamed up with Tal Goodman to dispatch Raz Haviv/Sean Ferguson, 6-2, at No. 2, helping the Anteaters secure the doubles point.
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Sakagawa came back two days later to upset No. 87 Lucca Liu of UC Santa Barbara, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. It was Sakagawa's second ranked victory of the season as he also took down No. 103 Manvydas Balciunas of San Diego on Feb. 6.
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Sakagawa, who has played all his singles matches at the top of the lineup, improved to 11-3 overall and 3-0 against Big West opponents.
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UCI will close out the regular season this weekend, hosting Hawai'i at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 17, before heading to UC San Diego on Saturday, April 18.
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Sakagawa was recognized for a conference-leading fourth time this season after going 2-0 at No. 1 singles with a ranked winΒ last week. On Friday, April 10, he defeated Jovan Lubbe of Cal Poly in straight sets to clinch UC Irvine's 4-2 team victory. After taking a 5-3 lead, Sakagawa kept his composure through a late rally as he went on to edge Lubbe in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7). Sakagawa rode that momentum to a resounding 6-1 win in the second. Earlier in the match, he teamed up with Tal Goodman to dispatch Raz Haviv/Sean Ferguson, 6-2, at No. 2, helping the Anteaters secure the doubles point.
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Sakagawa came back two days later to upset No. 87 Lucca Liu of UC Santa Barbara, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. It was Sakagawa's second ranked victory of the season as he also took down No. 103 Manvydas Balciunas of San Diego on Feb. 6.
Β
Sakagawa, who has played all his singles matches at the top of the lineup, improved to 11-3 overall and 3-0 against Big West opponents.
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UCI will close out the regular season this weekend, hosting Hawai'i at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 17, before heading to UC San Diego on Saturday, April 18.
Players Mentioned
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