2015 SEASON

Record:                                                       15-9
Home:                                                           8-6
Away / Neutral:                                               7-3
Big West / Finish:                                  6-2 / T2nd
Big West Tournament:   Lost in semis vs. UCSB (4-3)
Ranking (Highest):                                71st (41st)

The Anteaters finished the 2015 season stalling out in the Big West Tournament semifinal with a 4-3 loss to UC Santa Barbara. The loss snapped a streak of nine straight seasons in which the 'Eaters at least reached the Big West final.

UC Irvine went 15-9 ending in a tie for second in the regular season standings with the Gauchos with a 6-2 conference record. Since the format change in 2006, the 'Eaters are now 63-16 in Big West play.

Overall, the Anteaters are 632-466-2 all-time having played in exactly 1,100 matches.

The 2015 season was the 28th winning season for the program and 15th in the 19 seasons under Head Coach Mike Edles. Edles has a record of 282-182 as the coach of the Anteaters.

The 'Eaters were 4-6 against ranked opponents in 2015 defeating No. 39 Fresno State, No. 50 UCSB, No. 53 Hawai'i, and No. 73 Sacramento State. In addition, UCI beat No. 52 Marshall and No. 69 San Francisco who were unranked at the time of the meeting.

UCI was ranked for 13 of the 15 weeks this season finishing at No. 71. The team was in the ranking through the final 10 weeks of the season reaching as high as No. 41.

On the season, the 'Eaters won the doubles point in 15 of 24 matches winning those matches on 12 occasions. UCI also won three matches when losing the doubles point, and were swept just once, in the season's final match. UC Irvine also dropped 10 singles match when winning the opening set while coming back to win five times when losing the opener.

ANTEATER ACCOLADES

Four Anteaters were named to the All-Big West squad. Kat Facey was named first team singles and doubles for her first appearance on the team. She also collected three Big West Player of the Week awards during the season.

Alongside her was Ali Facey on the doubles first team. The honor is the third for Ali and second on the first team.

Sarah Gong was named All-Big West second team singles, her second honor after earning first team status in 2014.

Arisha Ladhani was the fourth and final representative earning honorable mention status, the first freshman on the team since 2013 for the Anteaters.

SENIOR SENTIMENTS

UC Irvine graduates two seniors from its class, the twin-sister duo of Ali Facey and Kat Facey.

Kat Facey had a masterful run to close out her college career winning 20 dual matches and finishing the year as the team's No. 1 winning a pair of matches. She even dropped a ranked opponent in No. 114 Marina Nikolic of San Francisco in straight sets.

Her career singles record stands at 52-24 placing her 17th all-time on the singles win board. She ranks in the top 10 in three different singles positions with 11 wins at No. 4 (T10th), 13 wins at No. 3 (10th), and 15 wins at No. 5 (6th).

Ali Facey put up her fourth straight season with 10+ dual match singles wins going 12-7. She finishes in a tie for 23rd all-time going 44-27. Her 25 wins at No. 4 singles is second-most, one shy of Nickole Kabe's 26.

Together, the Facey duo finished 18-5 in doubles play. Ali jumped up to No. 8 all-time with a 55-29 record in doubles. Kat with a 34-19 mark stands in a tie for 23rd. Both show up in the top 12 at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. Ali's 30 wins at No. 1 rank her fourth with Kat close behind in a tie for eighth with 18 wins. At No. 3 doubles, Ali's 18 wins is tied for seventh while Kat stands 12th with 16 wins.

THE NEXT WAVE

Some of the future is already here for the Anteaters. Junior Sarah Gong has sprouted into the all-time records with 31 career singles wins, 41st in program history, and 25 of her 28 career doubles wins coming at the No. 2 position, third-most. She also took down her first ranked opponent knocking off No. 116 Derya Terhun of Marshall.

Fellow junior Andrea Duva broke through into the starting lineup on 13 occasions in 2015 securing five victories, three against Big West opponents including a win in the Big West Tournament first round. She emerged as a strong doubles option winning six of her 14 matches including four with freshman Arisha Ladhani.

The freshman Ladhani played in all 24 matches in her rookie campaign scoring an even 10-10 singles record all at positions 2 and 3. She also posted 13 doubles wins, nine of which with Gong.

Redshirt sophomore Mazy Watrous was able to turn her game around winning nine of her final 11 matches after losing eight of her first nine. In doubles, she also appeared in 20 matches with three different partners posting nine wins.

Freshman Vivien Dvali's season was cut short due to injury, but showed promise going 7-5 including a pair of wins as the No. 5, and also won 10 doubles matches before the setback.

The rest of the lineup of first-year players Cassidy Branstine, Jennifer Andra, Alex Harrigan, and Gala Strong saw action in four singles and one doubles match during the season. They will undoubtedly be called upon going forward to earn important points for the 'Eaters.

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