SOAKING IT ALL IN
UC Irvine's weekend was wet and wild between a near-upset of the 48th-ranked Waves to a Sunday doubleheader being rescheduled due to rain.
The threat of rain led the team to push its matches with Fresno State and UC Riverside to April 1. The squad will still start with Fresno State at 10:00 a.m. in Anteater Tennis Stadium and shift to Riverside to take on the Highlanders at 3:30 p.m. that day.
The one match that was played came down to the final singles set. After taking the doubles point and going up 2-0 on a straight set singles win from Tyler Pham, Pepperdine rebounded to take a 3-2 lead before Shuhei Shibahara claimed his first No. 3 singles win to tie it back up. Nico Mertens was ultimately dropped in three sets to give the Waves the match, but there was a bright side to the result.
SIZABLE SHIFTING
The newest rankings came out with the 'Eaters making a big jump from No. 75 to No. 60. Last week was UCI's first as a ranked squad since January 29, 2014. No. 60 is the highest UCI has been since January of 2012 when it was No. 40.
The Big West is also represented with UC Davis at No. 64 and Cal Poly at No. 71. St. John's remains the third ranked school UCI has yet to play standing at No. 74.
UC Irvine is currently 1-8 against schools in the rankings with the lone win over No. 72 Boise State who was No. 45 at the time of the match. Recently, UNLV has jumped into the rankings at No. 70 after being unranked when they defeated UCI, 4-3.
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.
NET VALUE
Anteaters matches have seen 14 points going the way of the opening-set loser including four this past weekend. Jonathan Hammel and Shuhei Shibahara have been a part of three each with Shibahara winning twice and Hammel once. Tyler Pham, Nico Mertens, and Rafael Davidian each have a win and loss in both of their instances while Sebastian Heim has lost each.
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.
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
UCI returns to the court on Sunday for two matches at two different locations: Newport Tennis Club and Palisades Tennis Club.
Northern Arizona is the first opponent, and the two will square off Sunday morning at Newport Beach Tennis Club. The Big Sky foe is 2-4 thus far with wins over Nevada and New Mexico State and losses to UCI common opponents, Arizona, New Mexico, and Air Force. The Lumberjacks take on LMU on Saturday before heading to Irvine.
Jordan Gobatie is 3-3 to this point having play as Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 singles. Eden Peleg is 1-4 as the No. 1 with Kester Black duplicating that at No. 2 singles. Lumberjack doubles are 7-8 with Black and Adi Zilberstein paired at No. 1.
Boston College returns to Southern California to play at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday at Palisades Tennis Club. The Golden Eagles fell, 6-1, to the 'Eaters last season en route to a 6-17 record.
BC has perked up with a 4-4 record in 2015 falling to No. 49 Brown while dropping UCI common opponent in Army.
The Eagles' lineup rolls with four returners from last year's match. Philip Nelson remains at No. 1 singles while Aiden McNulty, Kyle Childree, and BC's lone point-getter last year, Hank Workman, fill out the lineup.
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