SAN DIEGO – Hosting their first NCAA Tournament match in program history, sixth-seeded Torero Men's Tennis rallied behind a Hogan Tennis Center record crowd of 656 to top UC Irvine 4-2 on Saturday.
 
San Diego will face ITA No. 28 USC tomorrow, Sunday, May 4 at noon in the regional final, for a shot at the Sweet 16. The match will be streamed on the Cracked Racquets YouTube. USD bested the Trojans on America's Most Beautiful Campus during the regular season, 4-1 on Feb. 27.
 
"New experiences are going to require a lot of nerves," 10^th-year Head Coach Ryan Keckley said following Saturday's win. "Fighting through those nerves and trying to find yourself, the physicality, your feet, your voice; it took us a little bit of time to get there, but eventually we got there."
 
Should the Toreros win Sunday, they will also host the Super Regional, as No. 16 UCLA – who upset No. 11 Cal at the Berkeley Regional – awaits. San Diego has never made it to a third round of the NCAA Tournament, while having made it to 20 tournaments, 13 of the last 14 since 2011. The Toreros topped the Bruins in a comeback 4-3 clinch on Jan. 20.
 
On Saturday, the doubles point set the tone for the match. All-WCC duo of Grad Savriyan Danilov and freshman Adrien Berrut were the first to finish, claiming a 6-3 win on court two. Almost synchronously, grad pairing of Blake Kasday and Nikhil Niranjan on court three powered to a 6-2 win, clinching the first point of the big dance.
 
In singles, it was First Team All-WCC redshirt-junior Stian Klaassen who blitzed through his match on court three, including a bagel in the second set, doubling USD's lead at 2-0. It's Klaassen's 15^th-straight singles win this season, moving his dual record to 18-3.
 
UC Irvine – one of the best region four seeds in the whole tournament, with an ITA ranking of No. 44 – would strike back, however. The Anteaters claimed their first point by way of a straight-set win at No. 6 singles.
 
San Diego answered back. Junior Neo Niedner, once down 0-3 in the first set, rebounded to win 7-5, 6-2 on court four for the third Torero point of the afternoon.
 
And then UCI answered back. Grad Savriyan Danilov battled in a 5-7 dropped first set and found himself down 0-5 in the second set. The Russian rallied for four-straight games won, but was ultimately toppled, 4-6.
 
It was star junior Oliver, All-American and back-to-back WCC Player of the Year, ranked third nationally, that put the match to rest at 4-2. He topped ITA No. 65 Noah Zamora on main court, 7-5, 6-1. It's a ninth-straight victory for Tarvet, who improves to 19-1 on the season, the lone loss being an injury retirement.
 
"It was a war today, and the crowd was what got us through it," Tarvet said. "When I looked around [at the scoreboard] and we had lost three first sets, I knew it was down to me at 5-5 [in the first set], and the crowd helped me turn that around."
 
Up Next
San Diego will face ITA No. 28 USC tomorrow, Sunday, May 4 at noon in the regional final, for a shot at the Sweet 16. The match will be streamed on the Cracked Racquets YouTube. USD bested the Trojans on America's Most Beautiful Campus during the regular season, 4-1 on Feb. 27. San Diego beat then No. 21 Southern California with the doubles point, senior Iiro Vasa on court two, Klaassen on court three, and Niedner on court five of singles, while Tarvet was out injured.

Results
No. 6 San Diego 4, UC Irvine 2
Doubles
1. #11 Stian Klaassen/Oliver Tarvet (USD) vs. Noah Zamora/Andy Nguyen (UCI) 5-2, unfinished
2. Adrien Berrut/Savriyan Danilov (USD) def. Sohrob Amiryavari/Ruining Huang (UCI) 6-3
3. Blake Kasday/Nikhil Niranjan (USD) def. Rithvik Krishna/Max Fardanesh (UCI) 6-2
 
Singles
1. #3 Oliver Tarvet (USD) def. #65 Noah Zamora (UCI) 7-5, 6-1
2. Andy Nguyen (UCI) def. #83 Savriyan Danilov (USD) 7-5, 6-4
3. Stian Klaassen (USD) def. Rithvik Krishna (UCI) 6-3, 6-0
4. Neo Niedner (USD) def. Ruining Huang (UCI) 7-5, 6-2
5. Adrien Berrut (USD) vs. Max Fardanesh (UCI) 4-6, 6-2, 0-2, unfinished
6. Sohrob Amiryavari (UCI) def. Blake Kasday (USD) 6-2, 6-2
 
Match Notes
UC Irvine 18-6; National ranking #44
San Diego 25-3; National ranking #7
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,6,4,2,1)
Official: Mark Kasimatis A-656