THE SCHEDULE
Hope International (0-1) at
UC Irvine (0-2)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 3
Time: 10:30 a.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Point Loma (0-0) at
UC Irvine (0-2)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 3
Time: 1:30 p.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

The UC Irvine women's tennis team hosts a doubleheader at Anteater Tennis Stadium Saturday, February 3. UCI plays Hope International in its first match at 10:30 a.m. followed by Point Loma at 1:30 p.m.

Match Notes

TOP 10 HITS
• UC Irvine is searching for its first win of the season as it dropped a pair of tough matches to start the year.
• The 'Eaters fell to Grand Canyon, 4-3, and were swept at San Diego State, 7-0, last week.
• The 'Eaters welcome back seven letterwinners while bringing in five newcomers for the 2018 campaign.
• Head coach Elizabeth Ferris is in her second year at the helm.
• Senior Vivien Dvali is UCI's active career leader with 31 overall singles wins. 
• Dvali has started the year at No. 1 singles (0-2) and doubles (1-1).
• Sophomore Stephanie Nguyen earned wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles against Grand Canyon to go 2-0 on the day.
• Sophomore Arianna Tilbury earned her first win of the season at No. 5 singles against Grand Canyon.
• Last season, the Anteaters made it to the quarterfinal round of the Big West Tournament.
• Dvali is the Anteaters' top returnee after picking up eight wins at No. 2 last year.

VERSUS THE OPPONENTS
Hope International (0-1), which is an NAIA affiliate, is searching for its first win of the season. The Royals most recently dropped a 7-0 decision to UC Riverside on January 25. UCI and HIU met once last season with the 'Eaters earning a 7-0 sweep over the Royals.

Point Loma, a Division II opponent in the PacWest, has not played a match yet this season. The Sea Lions finished with a 17-9 record in 2017. The 'Eaters are 3-0 against PLU all-time.

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.
 
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 products, while Yulin Chen is a native of 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 continues non-conference play when it welcomes BYU to Anteater Tennis Stadium for a dual-match Thursday, Feb. 8 at 1:30 p.m.