THE SCHEDULE
UC Riverside (5-17, 0-7) at
UC Irvine (8-13, 0-5)
Date: Saturday, April 21
Time: 11:00 a.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium – Irvine, Calif.

Match Notes

UC Irvine concludes the regular season with a Big West match against UC Riverside Saturday, April 21 at 11:00 a.m. The winner of Saturday's match will be the No. 8 seed at the Big West Championship while the loser will earn the No. 9 seed.

TOP 10 HITS
• UC Irvine went 0-2 last week with losses to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.
• UCI is looking for its first Big West Conference win after starting the year 0-7 in conference play.
• Yulin Chen leads the Anteaters with nine dual-match singles wins.
• Chen tops the roster with nine dual-match doubles wins.
• Vivien Dvali won at No. 2 singles against Cal Poly's Seriana Saltzen, 6-2, 7-5
• UCI is 3-5 when playing a match on a Saturday.
• The Anteaters are 0-4 in the month of April and have lost their last eight matches.
• Chen and Flora Amiri lead UCI in doubles behind a 6-5 record playing primarily at the No. 2 spot.
• Senior Vivien Dvali returned to the court last week after missing most of the season due to injury.  
• Dvali is UCI's active career leader with 35 overall singles wins. 

SENIOR SEND OFF
UC Irvine women's tennis and UCI Athletics would like to recognize two outstanding women's tennis seniors at Saturday's match. Vivien Dvali and Ashlynn Hall will be playing in their final match at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

LAST TIME OUT
The Anteaters continued to struggle in conference play, dropping two matches last week to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.

UCI was swept by UCSB, 4-0. The Gauchos took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2. On court three, Yulin Chen and Vivien Dvali trailed, 3-4, when the point was clinched. UCSB won at Nos. 3, 5, and 6 to clinch the match. Stephanie Hazell was in a battle with Palina Dubavets at the top spot, 6-7 (2-7), when the match was clinched.

Vivien Dvali highlighted UCI's 4-1 loss to Cal Poly. The senior earned the 'Eaters only win with a 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 2 singles. UCI dropped the doubles point after losses at Nos. 1 and 2. Dvali and Yulin Chen led at No. 3 doubles, 6-5, when the point was clinched. The Mustangs' Claire Bouquet clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles over Jacqueline Tsodikova.

VERSUS THE OPPONENTS
UC Riverside comes to Irvine behind a 5-17 overall record and is 0-7 in the Big West. Last time out, the Highlanders dropped a conference match to Hawai'i, 5-1. Tia Elpusan leads UCR in singles with a 10-9 dual-match record, primarily playing at the No. 2 spot. Tracy Van has seven singles wins between the No. 5 and 6 positions. The duo of Elpusan and Sara Khattab boast a team-best 12-9 doubles record.

UCI has never dropped a match to UCR, holding a 19-0 all-time record against the Highlanders. Last season, the 'Eaters earned a 4-0 victory over UCR in the Big West Tournament First Round.

UNDER PRESSURE
Arianna Tilbury has been clutch for the 'Eaters this season. The sophomore has clinched a team-best four matches for the 'Eaters in singles. Most recently, Tilbury won at the No. 5 spot against Bradley to seal the match.

YOUNG TALENT
Sophomore Yulin Chen leads the Anteaters this season with nine dual-match singles wins. Sophomore Arianna Tilbury isn't far behind with eight victories while sophomore Stephanie Nguyen and freshman Flora Amiri have five dual-match singles wins each. The duo of Chen and Amiri also top the roster in doubles with six wins so far.

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.

SENIOR SEASON
Vivien Dvali returns for her final season as UCI's active career leader with 35 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. Dvali missed most of this season due to injury but returned to the court last week and picked up a win at No. 2 singles against Cal Poly.

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 and are currently in the midst of a four-game home stand 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
UCI will compete at the Big West Championships in Indian Wells, Calif. The Anteaters will play in a first round match Thursday, April 26.