UPCOMING MATCHES

Youngstown State Penguins at UC Irvine Anteaters
Thurs. Mar. 12, 2015 / 9:00 AM
Anteater Tennis Stadium

Georgetown Hoyas at UC Irvine Anteaters
Thurs. Mar. 12, 2015 / 12:00 PM
Anteater Tennis Stadium

Air Force Falcons at UC Irvine Anteaters
Fri. Mar. 13, 2015 / 5:00 PM
Newport Beach Tennis Club

SERVICE WINNERS

UC Irvine took two of three matches over the weekend defeating Grand Canyon and UC San Diego by identical, 5-2 scores, while falling to Florida Gulf Coast, 4-3.

Each match went the way of doubles with each winner claiming the doubles point as well.

Tyler Pham and Rafael Davidian came out unscathed in singles. Pham took all the matches, two in straight sets, and has run his singles win streak to eight matches. Davidian played two matches, winning each in straight sets, as he now holds a four-match win streak and seven wins in his last eight.

Sebastian Heim took two of three. His lone loss came against No. 107 Jordi Vives of FGCU, his first collegiate ranked opponent.

SCHEDULE SUMMARY

UC Irvine fell from the ranked schools this week after standing at No. 72 last week and despite winning four of its last five.

The highest-ranked Big West school is now Cal Poly at No. 54. UC Davis remains in the rankings at No. 70 while UC Santa Barbara emerges at No. 75, a school UCI defeated earlier in the year, 4-3.

UC Irvine is currently 1-8 against schools in the rankings with the lone win over No. 74 Boise State who was No. 45 at the time of the match. Recently, UNLV had jumped into the rankings at No. 70 after being unranked when they defeated UCI, 4-3, however, they have since fallen back out of the rankings.

The match with previously-ranked St. John's that was slated from Mon. Mar. 9 was been cancelled. The Red Storm had been ranked until the week leading up to the match.

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.

BREAK POINTS

Anteater matches have seen 17 points going the way of the opening-set loser. Jonathan Hammel lost once over the weekend while Tyler Pham came back to win. Hammel has now been a part of four winning just once. Pham and  Shuhei Shibahara have been a part of three each with each winning twice . Nico Mertens and Rafael Davidian each have a win and loss in both of their instances while Sebastian Heim now has a win and two losses.

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.

CRUNCH TIME

The 'Eaters roll into this week with five matches over three days.

Thursday sees a doubleheader at Anteater Tennis Stadium beginning at 9:00 a.m. vs. Youngstown State.  The Penguins spend two days in the area against SIUE and Gonzaga before heading to Irvine. They stand at 2-7 so far with lone wins against St. Francis and St. Bonaventure. Singles 1 through 3 have remained the same with Remi Chancerel, Hugo Morth, and Bassem El Mekawi, respectively. Chancerel and Morth have paired up as the No. 1 doubles duo, as well.

Friday evening begins the Armed Forces Weekend with a 5:00 p.m. match against Air Force at Newport Beach Tennis Club. AFA stands at 7-2 that includes a 4-3 win over NAU and 5-2 loss to Grand Canyon. Grant Taylor, Lucas Fumagalli, Max Olson, and Andrew Parks head the singles and doubles lineups for the Falcons.

UCI and Army square off at 10:00 a.m. at Newport Beach Tennis Club Saturday morning. The Black Knights were recently swept by No. 25 Princeton snapping a nine-match win streak. Sam Lampman has forged a 6-4 mark at No. 1 singles. He and Alex Van Velzer are 7-2 at No. 1 doubles leading the 28-9 mark as a team.

Lastly comes Portland at 2:00 p.m. back at Anteater Tennis Stadium. The Pilots are 6-1 defeating No. 68 ETSU while its lone loss has come at No. 53 Washington. UP is led by Steffen Dierauf, a perfect 7-0 at No. 1 singles, and he's followed by five true freshmen that fill the remainder of the lineup.

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