California Irvine Athletics

Hawai'i (9-8, 2-2 Big West) at
UC Irvine (11-7, 3-1 Big West) 
Date: Friday, April 17
Time: 12 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

UC Irvine (11-7, 3-1 Big West) at
UC San Diego (9-13, 1-3 Big West) 
Date: Saturday, April 18
Time: 2 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Northview Tennis Courts - La Jolla, Calif.
Live Results

Match Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine men's tennis closes out the regular season with a pair of Big West matches this week. The Anteaters will host Hawai'i in a 12 p.m. showdown on Friday, April 17, before heading to UC San Diego for a 2 p.m. tilt on Saturday, April 18. The 'Eaters will honor their graduating student-athletes following their final home match on Friday.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UC Irvine is a perfect 10-0 at Anteater Tennis Stadium with its lone home loss coming at the Racquet Club of Irvine on Jan. 31.
• UCI is 15-6 in singles against Big West opponents, led by Greg Gamal, Hiroki Sakagawa & Ruining Huang who are all 3-0.
• Six of the Anteaters' seven losses this season were against teams ranked among the top-65 in the nation.
• Since 2021, the 'Eaters are 27-7 (.794) in regular-season conference matches.
• Hiroki Sakagawa has won a conference-leading four Big West Player of the Week awards in 2026, including each of the last two.
• In 2025, the Anteaters won their second-straight Big West Championship, and their third in four seasons.

LAST TIME OUT
Hiroki Sakagawa earned his second ranked singles win of the season in UC Irvine's narrow 4-2 loss at No. 32 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, April 12. UCI trailed 3-0, but as they have done all season, the Anteaters continued to fight. Sakagawa started the rally with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over No. 87 Lucca Liu at the top of the singles lineup. Greg Gamal followed suit, outlasting Conrad Brown, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, at the sixth spot. The 'Eaters pushed the Gauchos to a third set on the two remaining courts. At No. 2, Max Fardanesh got out to a quick start with a 6-3 victory against No. 55 Dominique Rolland. Rolland then regrouped to take the second. In the final frame, Fardanesh was down a double break at 4-1 and 5-2, but battled back to tie it up at 5-5. Rolland answered with a break before winning deuce point for the 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 match-clincher. On court five, Ruining Huang was in the driver's seat as he recovered from a first-set loss to go up, 5-7, 6-7 (2), 4-1, when his match was abandoned.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Hawai'i (9-8, 2-2 Big West) was last in action on Thursday, April 9, when it defeated UC Davis, 4-1. Azuma Visaya leads the Rainbow Warriors with an 8-6 record at No. 1 singles. Kent Mueller and Adriano Dzhenev own UH's top doubles record at 8-2. The Anteaters have won 13-straight in their all-time series with the 'Bows. Their last loss to Hawai'i came in 2013.

UC San Diego (9-13, 1-3 Big West) earned its first conference win of the season with a 4-0 victory over UC Riverside on Saturday, April 18. Prathinav Chunduru and Yaron Guberman are tied for the team lead with seven singles wins each. Abhinav Chunduru and Trevor Nguyen also lead the squad in doubles with an 11-6 record at Nos. 1 and 2. The 'Eaters are 12-0 against the Tritons since 2003.

OUR HIRO
Graduate student Hiroki Sakagawa, who missed last season with an injury, has made his presence felt in his return to the court. Sakagawa is tops on the squad with an 11-3 singles record, all at the top of the lineup. On April 15, he won his conference-leading fourth Big West Player of the Week award following back-to-back straight-set victories against Cal Poly's Jovan Lubbe, 7-6 (7), 6-1, and No. 87 Lucca Liu of UC Santa Barbara, 7-6 (4), 7-5. He also received the distinction on April 8 after a resilient three-set triumph that clinched UCI's 4-3 Big West-opening win at UC Davis. Sakagawa dropped a hard-fought first set to Lucas Bollinger and found himself trailing 5-3 in the second, but battled to save a match and Aggie team clinch point at 40-40. He rode that momentum all the way to a 7-5 triumph and pulled ahead 4-2 in the decisive third frame when rain halted play, delaying the match until the next morning. The break in action didn't faze the Chiba, Japan, native as he picked up right where he left off, finishing the gutsy 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 match-clinching win. Earlier in the season, Sakagawa defeated No. 103 Manvydas Balciunas of 11th-ranked San Diego, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6. He was rewarded for that effort with his first career Big West Men's Tennis Player of the Week honor on Feb. 11. Sakagawa claimed the award again two weeks later after going 2-0 against Saint Mary's and San Diego State.

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 from March 11-14. 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, claiming a 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 win for the 'Eaters. On the season, he is tied for the team lead with six doubles victories, while he also has seven singles wins, all of which have come at Nos. 1 and 2. In his two years at UCI, Fardanesh is 9-2 against Big West opponents (including postseason).

DOWN TO THE WIRE
UC Irvine is 5-1 in 4-3 matches this year. Five days before their thrilling 4-3 win at UC Davis, the Anteaters also came from behind to top Dartmouth in their non-conference finale on March 26. UCI claimed the doubles point, but the Big Green took the early momentum in singles, winning the first set on all six courts. Dartmouth went on to close out three straight-set victories to go up, 3-1. Hiroki Sakagawa and Max Fardanesh then rebounded to upend their respective opponents in three to even the match. All eyes turned to court four where Sohrob Amiryavari delivered a clutch 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win. 

ENTERING THE MIX
Freshman Greg Gamal has been a steady force in the Anteaters' singles lineup. Gamal is second on the team with a 10-3 record while playing at Nos. 5 and 6. The Villa Park native has won 10 of his last 11 decisions. Freshman Alex Guajardo has been in the doubles lineup for all but one dual match this season. He has picked up five victories alongside Sohrob Amiryavari.

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS
Last year, UC Irvine won its second-straight Big West Championship, and third in four seasons (2022, 2024, 2025). Since 2022, the Anteaters have produced one Big West Player of the Year, three Big West Coach of the Year awards, 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, 5-0 in conference, and 3-0 at the Big West Championships. 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 added eight victories playing primarily at the fourth position as a true freshman.

TRANSFER 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. Goodman has six singles and six doubles wins as an 'Eater.

DOUBLE DIGIT WINS
UCI has reached double digits in the win column for the sixth consecutive year. Since 2021, the Anteaters are 86-41 (.677) in dual matches.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine will make its way to Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego for the 2026 Big West Championship, April 22-25.