The UC Irvine Men’s tennis team (0-2) played their first designated home game of the season at the Racquet Club of Irvine, dropping the match 6-1 against Grand Canyon University (GCU) (6-1) on Jan. 31.
With a very hot afternoon ahead of the players, the game began intensely with the doubles point. Grand Canyon University secured their first point at the two position, and the Antelopes demonstrated their strong spirit on the remaining courts. Both the freshman Alex Guajardo and graduate Sohrob Amiryavari duo and junior Max Fardanesh and graduate Tal Goodman, from UCI duoed additional sets, but GCU took the lead with their third position doubles. A score of 7-5 brought GCU to the lead, 1-0 in the dual.
As the match transitioned into the singles play, the teams were evenly matched with three ‘Eaters and three ‘Lopes opening the sets. At the first singles position, UCI graduate Hiroki Sakagawa played strongly throughout his match and quickly leveled the match to a score of 1-1, with a 6-2, 6-4 straight set win. This was UCI’s only point of the day. GCU fought back immediately winning four of the five other sets, taking the point at the second singles position to be once again in the lead and break the tie, 2-1.
Intensity filled the courts as GCU remained in the lead. Four of the matches extended into final third sets. The sixth position singles, played by freshman Greg Gamal gave hope for a comeback from the ‘Eaters. However, his opponent, junior Charlie Pade, immediately regained control, and Gamal was not able to hold him off. Gamal dropped the third set, 6-3, to make it 3-1 overall for GCU.
Fardanesh, at the third singles position, also had a rough game despite playing well and hitting some strong hits. He dropped his opening set to a tie break 710–68, the point going to GCU, keeping them in the lead and clinching the dual with a score of 4-1.
The remaining matches played out to completion as the last sets of singles. Amiryavari won the first set but could not maintain the flow of the game, dropping the second and third sets, putting GCU in the lead with a score of 5-1. There was still hope left for UCI in the last match to earn a final point. Irvine’s sophomore Ruining Huang intensely played against junior Brice Patoux, before going into a tie break. Huang played a strong yet difficult match and lost the tie break 77-61, ultimately leading GCU to a victory of 6-1.
The ‘Eaters will be back on the courts on Feb. 6 at No. 10 University of San Diego, where they will have the first serve at 12 p.m.
Melissa Hernandez is a Sports Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at melih12@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Joshua Gonzales