UC Irvine (0-4) at
Loyola Marymount (2-1)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 15
Time: 1 p.m. (PST)
Location: LMU Tennis Center - Los Angeles, Calif.
UC Irvine Match Notes
The UC Irvine women's tennis team will hit the road for the first time this year as it makes the short trip to Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, Feb. 15. The 'Eaters and Lions are set to square off at 1 p.m. at the LMU Tennis Center.
QUICK HITS
• UC Irvine is searching for its first win of the season as it has dropped four tough matches to start the year.
• Three of those losses were 4-3 decisions, including two that went down to the final singles point (vs. SDSU, USF).
• The Anteaters have a young team with five freshmen and only one senior.
• Freshman Constance Branstine has started the year at the No. 1 spot in both singles and doubles.
• In doubles, she has teamed up with classmate Stephanie Nguyen to win two of their last three matches.
• Nguyen has also won two-straight singles matches at the No. 4 position.
• Junior Vivien Dvali is 2-2 on the young season, giving her 25 career singles victories (18 in dual matches).
• Interim head coach Elizabeth Ferris is in her first year at the helm of the program.
• Ferris spent the last three seasons as an assistant under long-time UC Irvine head coach Mike Edles.
LAST TIME OUT: UC Irvine dropped another close match on Saturday (Feb. 11), falling to San Francisco, 4-3, at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach. It was the Anteaters' third-straight one-point loss.
The 'Eaters split the first two doubles matches as they came up short at No. 1 before evening the score at No. 3 with senior Cassidy Branstine and junior Hali Dickson taking down Amber Del Rosario/Anna Sokiran, 6-4. Hanna Borjeson/Joselyn Treyes-Albarracin then edged junior Vivien Dvali and sophomore Stephanie Hazell, 7-6 (11-9), at No. 2 to clinch the point for USF.
UCI tied it up at 1-1 in singles with junior Ashlynn Hall's 6-4, 6-1 triumph at No. 6. It continued to go back-and-forth from there as Hazell dropped a straight-set decision at the fifth spot before Dvali dispatched Emily Maxfield, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2. The Dons then went up 3-2 after Sokiran handed freshman Constance Branstine a 6-3, 6-3 setback at the top of the lineup, but freshman Stephanie Nguyen kept the home team alive with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory over Treyes-Albarracin on court four. The dual then came down to the No. 3 position where Cassidy Branstine fought back from a one-set deficit and saved match point to win the second set, 7-6 (2). Her comeback effort fell short, however, as she ended up dropping a 5-7, 7-6 (2), 3-6 decision to Genevieve McCloskey.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: Loyola Marymount (2-1) has not played since its 4-3 victory over Long Beach State on Jan. 27. Freshman Siobhan Anderson leads the Lions with a 3-0 record at the No. 3 position. Sophomore Elvira Juravliova, a 2016 All-West Coast Conference honorable mention selection, is also 2-1 at No. 2.
LAST MEETING VS. LMU: UC Irvine defeated Loyola Marymount, 4-3, in the two teams' most recent meeting on Feb. 3, 2015 at Anteater Tennis Stadium. UCI, which was ranked 73rd at the time, cruised through doubles play, winning at all three positions. The 'Eaters then claimed three of the first four singles matches to clinch the victory.
HOME SWEET HOME: UCI recently closed out a four-match homestand to open the 2017 campaign. Overall, the 'Eaters are slated to play 13 of their 21 regular-season contests at Anteater Tennis Stadium and Palisades Tennis Club (Newport Beach).
CALIFORNIA GIRLS: Every member of the UC Irvine women's tennis team hails from the state of California. In addition, five of them grew up locally in the Orange County area.
BACK FOR MORE: Junior Vivien Dvali was one of three 'Eaters named to the All-Big West Team last year as she earned second-team recognition in singles. The Valley Village, Calif., native won eight matches at the No. 2 spot and went 5-2 in conference play. She had a strong finish to the season, coming out on top in seven of her final 10 outings. Dvali is the Anteaters' active career leader with 25 singles victories, including 18 in dual-match play.
BLUE CHIP RECRUIT: Freshman Constance Branstine is a five-star blue chip recruit out of Villa Park High School. She paced the 'Eaters during the fall with a team-high five singles victories. The Orange, Calif., native had her best showing at the Jack Kramer Collegiate Invitational where she advanced to the semifinals. She has also played every match at No. 1 singles and doubles during the dual match season.
FRESHMEN DUO: Freshmen Constance Branstine and Stephanie Nguyen have teamed up to lead UC Irvine at No. 1 doubles where they are 2-2. The tandem picked up back-to-back victories as they defeated Susan Baklini/ Tatum Prudhomme of Grand Canyon, 7-5, and Jana Buth/Taylor Lederman of San Diego State, 6-2.
NGUYEN WINS: Stephanie Nguyen is also 2-2 in singles play as she has won each of her last two matches at No. 4. The San Jose, Calif., native came from behind to defeat SDSU's Olivia Larsson, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0, while she also topped Joselyn Treyes-Albarracin of San Francisco, 7-6 (2), 6-1. Nguyen added one victory during the fall when she upended Alaina Miller of UCLA, 6-4, 7-5.
UP NEXT: UC Irvine stays on the road this weekend with a trip to the Pacific Northwest where it will play three matches in as many days. The Anteaters are slated to face Seattle U (Feb. 18), Portland (Feb. 19) and Portland State (Feb. 20).
