FALL FORWARD

The 'Eaters had some success over the fall, notably in the GCU Invite in Phoenix, Ariz. Junior transfer Nico Mertens took home the Flight 2 singles crown with four straight-set wins. Junior duo Tyler Pham and Jonathan Hammel followed suit with four doubles wins to take that crown as well.

Elsewhere, in the ITA West Regionals held in Malibu, Calif., Pham and freshman Sebastian Heim reached the round of 16 in singles beating USC and UCLA singles players along the way.

Overall, UC Irvine totaled a 27-18 singles record in fall tournaments while coming up at 7-6 in doubles matches

UPPERCLASSED

The Anteaters went 11-18 in 2014 winning eight of its 12 home matches and posting seven wins in the month of March.

The 'Eaters won 13 singles matches after dropping the opening set, and were 10-1 when taking the doubles point.

Ryan Cheung was the only departure from the 2014 squad giving way to seniors Rafael Davidian and Shuhei Shibahara in 2015. The pair shared the No. 4 spot throughout the year with combining for a 10-4 record with Davidian beginning as a No. 2 while Shibahara spent most of his junior season as the No. 5.

Davidian earned the lone win over a ranked opponent when he trumped No. 103 David Sofaer of Pepperdine in straight sets.

Junior Tyler Pham looks most poised to gain control of the No. 1 slot as he played at No. 1 twice taking over for Cheung who scored the other 23 points in that slot.

Fellow junior Jonathan Hammel saw action in five slots in 2014 landing as the No. 3 for the most part where he played 16 of his 29 points.

Caryl Hernandez advances as high as the No. 3 while posting a 6-6 mark as No. 5. Jonathan Poon and Justin Agbayani teamed up with Hernandez at No. 6 going 7-5 overall in his absence.

The doubles slate saw Hammel and Pham garner the most action at No. 1 going 4-5, 7-7 overall. Jonathan Poon will search for another partner after going 7-4 with Cheung. Shibahara bounced around three partners on all three slots.

Agbayani and Hernandez put in the most time after Hammel/Pham going 7-9 with six wins at No. 3.

READY TO EAT

Three new Anteaters join the fold in 2015. A pair of them are Germans joining senior Rafael Davidian. The upperclassman is Nico Mertens, a third-year making the transfer from Nicholls State where he went 25-12 in singles and took 15 doubles matches as well. He finished as the Flight 2 singles champion for the conference and defeated the No. 13 player in the nation en route to a No. 69 ranking of his own. Mertens won six of seven singles matches over the fall while dropping his only doubles match with Davidian.

Joining Mertens from the European ranks is Sebastian Heim. The freshman saw his only fall action in the ITA West Regionals winning three matches in straight sets before bowing out late in the third set to No. 93 Dennis Mkrtchian of UCLA.

Andrew Gong hung around the squad in 2014, but did not see any action. The redshirt freshman from Northern California scored a pair of wins in the SoCal Intercollegiates. He also teamed up with Justin Agbayani to win two of three doubles matches.

SEASON OUTLOOK

UCI's schedule begins a lot like last year's with six matches over the opening weekend, this time in Tucson, Ariz. Last year's 'Eaters knocked off their lone ranked opponent in the opening weekend with a 4-3 victory over No. 67 Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The 2015 kickoff includes No. 41 Texas Tech and No. 61 New Mexico.

The start of the season also includes trips to No. 1 USC, No. 4 UCLA, No. 33 Boise State, and No. 53 Pepperdine.

Early Big West matches includes a home tilt with UC Santa Barbara and a road match at UC Riverside as the backend of a doubleheader before a stretch of 12 home matches infused with five trips to the Newport Beach Tennis Club and a visit from No. 71 St. John's.

Big West play returns in three of the last four matches at Cal Poly and a return home to host Hawai'i and UC Davis.

No. 77 Michael Tenzer is the lone ranked singles to visit UCI out of the 12 that populate the schedule. The No. 26 duo of Hejhal/Munshaw of St. John's claim the same in doubles as part of five on the slate.

KICKIN' IT OFF

The 2015 season begins in Tucson, Ariz. at the Robson Tennis Center. The host Arizona Wildcats will get things going for UCI Friday morning and will meet again Saturday afternoon. Fans are able to follow both matches via live stats links. The Wildcats were 12-16 last season, and are led by seniors Carlos Bermudez and Sumeet Shinde.

No. 41 Texas Tech strolls in for Friday afternoon and Monday morning matches. The Red Raiders went 13-11 in 2014 before being bumped in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by No. 17 Cal. Felipe Soares comes in ranked at No. 28 while being ranked with two different doubles partners, No. 30 with Connor Curry and No. 35 with Hugo Dojas.

No. 61 New Mexico rounds the tourney out. The Lobos finished 20-8 and swept the 'Eaters and the opening tournament of 2014. Senior Samir Iftikhar comes in ranked No. 41.