THE SCHEDULE
Grand Canyon (2-2) at
UC Irvine (0-0)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 27
Time: 11:00 a.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
UC Irvine (0-0) at
San Diego State (1-0)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 28
Time: 12:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Aztec Tennis Center – San Diego, Calif.
Match Notes
The UC Irvine women's tennis team kicks off the 2018 season at home against Grand Canyon Saturday, January 27 at 11:00 a.m. The 'Eaters travel to San Diego State for a road match Sunday, January 28 at 12:00 p.m.
TOP 10 HITS
• The 'Eaters welcome back seven letterwinners who accounted for 70 percent of the team's dual-match singles wins in 2017.
• UC Irvine finished last season with a 6-18 overall record and 2-6 in Big West play.
• The Anteaters made it to the quarterfinal round of the Big West Tournament.
• UCI brings in five newcomers.
• Head coach
Elizabeth Ferris is in her second year at the helm.
• Senior
Vivien Dvali is the Anteaters' top returnee after picking up eight wins at No. 2 last year.
• Dvali is UCI's active career leader with 31 overall singles wins.
• Senior
Ashlynn Hall matched a team-high eight dual wins last season primarily at Nos. 4-6.
• Hall secured the match-clinching point in three of the Anteaters' team victories
• Junior
Stephanie Hazell was an All-Big West Honorable Mention honoree in doubles, playing most of the 2017 season in the No. 1 position.
FALL REWIND
UCI played in three tournaments during the months of October and November. The 'Eaters opened up competition at the Beach Tennis Tournament. Sophomore
Arianna Tilbury highlighted the weekend winning the Flight C singles consolation title as she upended CSUN's Arpe Bagumyan in three sets.
Tilbury also highlighted the ITA Southwest Regional Championship for UCI as she won three matches. Sophomore
Yulin Chen and freshman
Clair Dean each won their respective singles consolation titles on the final day of the tournament.
The 'Eaters totaled 16 singles victories over the three-day CSUN Invitational in November.
VERSUS THE OPPONENTS
In its last meeting against the Lopes, UCI fell, 4-3, Jan. 21, 2017.
Vivien Dvali defeated Alexandra Petrzalkov, 6-4, 6-2, in the No. 2 spot and
Stephanie Hazell rallied to win, 7-6, 0-6, 7-6, at No. 5.
The 'Eaters dropped a 4-3 decision to SDSU in last season's meeting. UCI won the doubles point with victories at Nos. 1 and 3 while
Stephanie Nguyen and Hazell won their singles matches at the No. 4 and 5 spots, respectively.
MEET THE 'EATERS
UC Irvine returns seven players and welcomes five newcomers, including four freshman and one transfer. Junior
Danielle Garrido spent the last two seasons at San Diego Mesa where she won back-to-back junior college state singles titles. Freshmen
Flora Amiri (Advantage Tennis Academy) and
Clair Dean (Woodbridge HS) are both local products while
Emily Valenciano hails from Yorba Linda, Calif.
Yulin Chen prepped at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
11 of the 12 Anteaters on the roster are California natives, while
Yulin Chen hails from Changsha, Hunan, China.
In addition to Amiri and Dean,
Ashlynn Hall (San Clemente HS) and
Stephanie Hazell (Pacific Academy) are also local Orange County products.
BACK ON TOP
Despite missing part of the 2017 due to injury,
Vivien Dvali returns for her final season as UCI's active career leader with 31 overall singles wins. She is a two-time All-Big West selection and grabbed seven of her eight dual-match singles victories at the No. 2 spot last season.
TOP TALENT
Freshman
Flora Amiri is a five-star recruit out of Advantage Tennis Academy who ranked 11
th in California and 60
th in the nation according to TennisRecruting.net.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Anteaters play 12 games at Anteater Tennis Stadium including a four-game homestand to cap Big West dual-match play in April. UCI rounds out the season at home against CSUN (Apr. 8), UC Santa Barbara (Apr. 14), Cal Poly (Apr.15) and UC Riverside (Apr. 21).
UP NEXT
UC Irvine plays a doubleheader against Hope International (10:30 a.m.) and Point Loma (1:30 p.m.) Saturday, Feb. 3 at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
