UPCOMING MATCHES
No. 75 UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 48 Pepperdine Waves
Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 / 10:00 AM
Malibu, Calif.
Live Stats
Fresno State Bulldogs at No. 75 UC Irvine Anteaters
Sun. Feb. 22, 2015 / 10:00 AM
Anteater Tennis Stadium
No. 75 UC Irvine Anteaters at UC Riverside Highlanders
Sun. Feb. 22, 2015 / 3:30 PM
Riverside, Calif.
WHIRLWIND WEEKEND
The Anteaters felt the highs and lows in their trip to Las Vegas starting with a come-from-behind victory over No. 45 Boise State.
The Broncos rolled in doubles, but UCI raised their game to take four of six singles matches and the win. The 'Eaters turned around Sunday to face UNLV and began with a doubles sweep. The Rebels pulled their own comeback act winning four singles points to deter UCI's weekend sweep.
Anteaters matches have seen 10 points going the way of the opening-set loser. Jonathan Hammel has been a part of three of those, winning once and losing twice. Shuhei Shibahara and Tyler Pham have each won and lost once. The other three points have gone to Nico Mertens (W), Rafael Davidian (W), and Sebastian Heim (L).
Head Coach Trevor Kronemann's scored his 100th victory at UCI on Sunday when the Anteaters trumped UC Santa Barbara, 4-3, at Newport Beach Tennis Club. The win came in front of countless alums from each school who took place in an alumni doubles tournament prior to the match. Kronemann has amassed 165 career victories and is now in his 14th season as a collegiate head coach.
Heim has shone winning Big West Athlete of the Week award twice, January 23 and February 11. The last time UC Irvine had two freshman weekly award-winners was 2009 when Steven Henderson and Fabian Matthews shared the awards.
The most popular score has been 6-2 which 90 sets have gone to, UCI winning 36, as well as 89 sets finishing 6-4. UCI has had its most success in tiebreaker sets winning 40 of those.
SIZABLE SHIFTING
The newest rankings are out with UC Irvine slipping into that No. 75 spot for the first time this season. Its been over a year since the 'Eaters graced the rankings as No. 75 on January 29, 2014.
Along with the 'Eaters, Big West counterpart UC Davis comes in at No. 70. Arizona also jumps into the rankings as No. 75 alongside UCI. The 'Eaters defeated UA twice in the opening weekend which makes UC Irvine 3-6 against schools currently ranked.
The 'Eaters have also made some schedule adjustments. Portland will play in Anteater Tennis Stadium on Sat. Mar. 14 following the morning match at Newport Beach Tennis Club vs. Army.
The match with Florida Gulf Coast has moved to Newport Beach Tennis Club as well while the second leg of the doubleheader on Mar. 1 against Boston College has moved to Palisades Tennis Club.
The match with Georgetown has moved from Mar. 10 to Mar. 12 and will follow a 9:00 a.m. match that day with Youngstown State.
Lastly, the UC Irvine has been added as a filler to the Oracle Challenge in Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The tournament consists of eight schools over three days, but BYU is unable to play on Sunday, so the 'Eaters will take its spot with the opponent and time to be determined.
FALL FORWARD
The 'Eaters had some success over the summer, 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, UCI totaled a 27-18 singles record while coming up at 7-6 in doubles matches in the fall.
SPANNING THE GLOBE
The Anteaters have made a few trips already in 2015, but this weekend consists of three matches in three counties over two days.
UC Irvine begins its trek on Saturday travelling to No. 48 Pepperdine. The Waves are 2-3 so far after a 17-13 2014 season that included a 6-1 win over UCI. The Waves have three matches against Anteater opponents already with 5-0 loss at UCLA followed by a split with Boise State winning 4-2 followed by a 4-3 loss.
Brazilian sophomore Guilherme Hadlich has assumed the top spot with a 4-0 dual match record to this point. The rest of the lineup has struggled to a 9-14 mark.
The 'Eaters then embark on a home-road doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 10:00 a.m. in Anteater Tennis Stadium.
Fresno State is first up sporting a 3-2 record which includes losses at Cal Poly and No. 65 Santa Clara. The Bulldogs will also host LMU on Thursday before heading to Irvine. UCI and Fresno State have met in each of the last three seasons with both squads winning at home and Fresno taking a neutral-site match. 2015 saw the Bulldogs win, 4-3, at home.
Underclassmen power the Bulldogs with sophomores Euan McIntosh of Scotland and Eric Komati of Brazil in the top two positions followed closely by English freshmen Adam Glynn and Youssef Hassan.
The 'Eaters finish Sunday with a quick run up to Riverside to take on the Highlanders at 3:30 p.m. UCR is 0-7 thus far with losses to Anteater opponents UNLV, Arizona, and USC. The 'Eaters have won each of the past seven matches over the past six season giving up a total of six points.
Singles have picked up five wins in dual matches led by Michael Carella with a pair at Nos. 4 and 5 singles. Doubles have three wins from three separate duos among seven that have seen action.
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