CSUN FALL INVITATIONAL
Dates: Nov. 10-12, 2017 (Friday-Sunday)
Location: Matador Tennis Complex - Northridge, Calif.

Draws

THIS WEEK
The UC Irvine women's tennis team concludes it fall tournament season this weekend as it heads to Northridge for the CSUN Fall Invitational, Nov. 10-12. Action gets underway Friday with two rounds of doubles and one round of singles, starting at 10 a.m.
 
Flora Amiri, Yulin Chen, Clair Dean, Vivien Dvali, Danielle Garrido, Ashlynn Hall, Stephanie Hazell, Gillian Parker, Arianna Tilbury, Jacqueline Tsodikova and Emily Valenciano will be representing the Anteaters.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UCI was last in action at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in San Diego, Oct. 19-21. Three 'Eaters made it out of the first round, but were unable to advance past the Round of 64. UC Irvine still finished the tournament strong with five consolation wins on the final day.
 
"We couldn't be prouder of our players," head coach Elizabeth Ferris said. "They were all coachable and focused on the process, not the outcome. Having that mentality allowed them to pull out some gutsy wins. We need to continue using the fall quarter to practice and play with purpose. Today, we took several steps in a direction that will broaden our comfort zones to get us ready for season play."
 
Sophomore Arianna Tilbury earned her team-leading fifth victory of the fall campaign, and third of the week, with an impressive 6-2, 7-5 triumph over Long Beach State's Sadaf Sadeghvaziri. Tilbury concluded the tournament with a 3-1 record.
 
Coming off her first collegiate win the day before, sophomore Yulin Chen continued to play well, dispatching Masako Makiba of Cal State Fullerton, 6-4, 6-3. Freshman Clair Dean also displayed maturity and resiliency in a 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 victory over the Titans' Taylor Valenzuela. In addition, sophomores Jacqueline Tsodikova and Gillian Parker were both leading in their matches before their respective opponents retired.
 
NEWS AND NOTES
Over their first two fall tournaments, the 'Eaters have registered 19 singles wins.
 
Sophomore Arianna Tilbury, who won the Flight C consolation title at the season-opening Beach Tennis Tournament, leads the team with a 5-2 record.
 
Sophomore Gillian Parker is also 4-3, while classmate Jacqueline Tsodikova is 3-3.
 
Freshman Flora Amiri defeated Monika Van de Vondel of CSUN for her first collegiate victory on the final day of the Beach Tennis Tournament.
 
Elizabeth Ferris is in her second year at the helm of the UCI women's tennis program. She welcomes back seven letterwinners who accounted for 70 percent of the team's dual-match singles wins in 2017.
 
Senior Vivien Dvali is the top returner as she is UC Irvine's active career leader with 31 overall singles victories. The Valley Village, Calif., native is also a two-time All-Big West selection.
 
Senior Ashlynn Hall is coming off an eight-win dual campaign where she played primarily at Nos. 4-6. Three of those victories were match-clinchers.
 
Junior Stephanie Hazell earned an All-Big West honorable mention nod in doubles last year.
 
Sophomores Stephanie Nguyen and Jacqueline Tsodikova both saw significant playing time as true freshmen. Nguyen battled through injuries, but finished with seven dual-match singles wins, while Tsodikova had five.
 
The Anteaters bring in four newcomers, led by junior transfer Danielle Garrido, who spent the last two years at San Diego Mesa where she won back-to-back junior college state singles titles. Garrido finished her career at Mesa with a 39-0 record.
 
Freshmen Flora Amiri (Advantage Tennis Academy) and Clair Dean (Woodbridge HS), and sophomore Yulin Chen also join the squad in 2017-18. Amiri is a five-star recruit who ranked 11th in California and 60th in the nation according to TennisRecruiting.net.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine kicks off the dual-match season on Saturday, Jan. 27, when it hosts Grand Canyon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.