UPCOMING MATCHES
Home matches in BOLD
Apr. 26-29 - Big West Championships
Indian Wells Tennis Garden - Indio, Calif.
The Anteaters stumbled on the final road trip going 1-2, but the slate is wiped clean in a few weeks when the Big West Tournament gets underway.
WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON: UCI finished the regular season with a record of 14-7. The 14 wins is the most since 2009. The seven losses to this point is the fewest since 2007 when the team lost just five matches. This year will mark the 12th year in Coach Edles' 16 years as the head coach that the team will finish with a winning record.
Over the weekend, UCI went just 1-2 which included a loss to No. 59 Sacramento State putting it at 4-5 on the road as opposed to 10-2 at Anteater Tennis Stadium. On UCI's schedule, there are currently eight ranked teams in which UCI went 2-6 against. Hawai'I remains the only ranked school that was unranked when they matched up with UCI, while San Diego State, at No. 48, is the only school to be unranked following a match against the Anteaters in which they were ranked.
UC Irvine had a pair of five-match winning streaks. The longest losing streak it posted was two; once this past weekend and once early in the season to the No. 4 and No. 1 ranked teams, respectively, in USC and UCLA.
Overall, UCI went 73-50 in singles dual matches. Kristina Smith (Laguna Niguel / Dana Hills) led the way with 14 dual wins. Courtney Byron (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame Prep HS) and Kat Facey (Cameron Park / Ponderosa HS) were close behind with 12 wins, and Marivick Mamiit (Los Angeles / William and Mary) posted 11.
Mamiit was unblemished in conference player going 5-0. Smith finished with a 7-1 record as seven of the eight Anteaters finished Big West play with a winning record as the team as a whole went 25-14.
Smith led all players with 11 wins at the No. 1 slot. Byron also posted a 10-win record as the No. 2. The most successful position for UCI was No. 6 at 15-5.
Doubles play was owned by the duo of Smith and Franziska Goettsching (Heitersheim, Germany / Faust Gymnasium). Together, they went 14-2. Twelve of those wins came as the No. 2 and six were in Big West matches. Doubles as a whole finished at 32-28 with the No. 2 slot, at 14-5, as the only position above .500.
Eight different partners saw time as the No. 3 with the Facey sisters at 6-6 taking most of the matches.
UCI will look to make the Big West final for the ninth time in the last 13 seasons ultimately pursuing the school's second ever Big West title.
BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS ON THE HORIZON: The Big West Championships will be held at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indio, Calif. starting Thurs. April 26th and running through Sun. April 29th. UCI will not play its first match until Fri. April 27th, but its seed is still yet to be determined. Currently, the Anteaters are the No. 2, but UC Davis still has an opportunity to take it having won the tiebreaker. The seeding will be hammered out throughout this final week of regular season play. UCI is guaranteed to finish either second or third.
In 2011, UC Irvine came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed and proceeded to sweep No. 3 UC Davis and take out No. 7 CSUN before falling in the final. There will be a more in-depth look at the tournament next week leading into it.
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