Big West First Round
No. 8 UC Irvine (9-15, 1-7 Big West) vs.
No. 9 UC Riverside (5-13, 0-8 Big West)
Date: Thursday, April 26
Time: 9 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Indian Wells Tennis Garden - Indian Wells, Calif.

Big West Quarterfinals
Date: Friday, April 27
Time: 9 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Indian Wells Tennis Garden - Indian Wells, Calif.

Big West Semifinals
Date: Saturday, April 28
Time: 9 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Indian Wells Tennis Garden - Indian Wells, Calif.

Big West Championship
Date: Sunday, April 29
Time: 9 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Indian Wells Tennis Garden - Indian Wells, Calif.

Tournament Central

UC Irvine Match Notes

The eighth-seeded UC Irvine women's tennis team begins postseason play with a Big West Tournament first-round match against No. 9 seed UC Riverside at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 26. The tournament continues throughout the weekend with the quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals on Saturday and championship on Sunday. All matches will be contested at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

TOP 10 HITS
• UC Irvine earned its first conference win last week, defeating UC Riverside, 4-3.
• UCI's win over UCR snapped an eight game losing streak for the 'Eaters.
• Yulin Chen leads the Anteaters with 10 dual-match singles wins.
• Chen tops the roster with 10 dual-match doubles wins.
• Chen clinched the match against UC Riverside with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Chloe Pham.
• The duo of Chen and Vivien Dvali are 1-0 in doubles against Big West competition.
• Stephanie Hazell has played 14 matches at No. 1 singles for the Anteaters this season.  
• Chen and Flora Amiri lead UCI in doubles behind a 6-5 record playing primarily at the No. 2 spot.
• Dvali is 3-0 since returning to the court after missing most of the season due to injury.  
• Dvali is UCI's active career leader with 36 overall singles wins. 

IN THE POSTSEASON
Since 1989, UC Irvine is 41-36 in Big West Tournament matches. The Anteaters have advanced to the championship 11 times, winning one title in 2010. They own a 3-2 record when playing in the first round, and are 19-7 in quarterfinal matches.

This marks the second straight year the 'Eaters will meet the Highlanders in the first round. Last year, UCI swept UCR, 4-0, to advance to the quarterfinals. UCI is 2-0 against UCR in the Big West Tournament.

PREVIOUSLY, AGAINST UC RIVERSIDE
The UC Irvine women's tennis team finished its regular-season schedule on a high note as it pulled out a clutch 4-3 victory over UC Riverside.
Despite dropping the double point, the Anteaters grabbed wins at Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5 singles to earn the one-point victory.

Vivien Dvali and Yulin Chen highlighted doubles play after defeating Tracy Van and Natalie Penner, 6-0. However, Flora Amiri and Arianna Tilbury dropped a tough, 6-7 (4-7) decision on court two and Stephanie Hazell and Danielle fell at the top spot, 4-6.

Dvali continued her impressive day grabbing a quick victory at No. 2, 6-3, 6-2, to knot the game at one. Amiri followed winning at the No. 3 position, 6-3, 6-0 before Tilbury earned a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Lauren Wolfe on court five to put the 'Eaters up, 3-1.

Chen clinched the match at the No. 4 position with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Chloe Pham.

ABOUT THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside (5-18, 0-8) ended the regular season on a two-match skid as its last win came against Chaminade April 13. Tia Elpusan leads the Highlanders with 10 singles wins. Elpusan and partner Sara Khattab have a team-best 15 doubles wins. UCI is 20-0 against UCR all-time since the Highlanders became a D1 affiliate in 2002-03. The 'Eaters have registered 12 shutout victories over UCR.
 
A GLANCE AT THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
The 'Eaters are 0-7 against the rest of the tournament field this season. If UC Irvine wins on Thursday, it will advance to the quarterfinals where it will face top-seeded UC Santa Barbara (7-1). The rest of the quarterfinal match-ups are No. 4 Hawai'i vs. No. 5 Long Beach State, No. 3 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 6 CSUN and No. 2 UC Davis vs. No. 7 Cal Poly.

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 10 dual-match singles wins. Sophomore Arianna Tilbury isn't far behind with nine victories while freshman Flora Amiri has six dual-match singles wins each. Combined, Chen, Tilbury and Amiri have tallied 25 of UCI's 50 singles wins this season.

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 36 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 battled injury most of this season but returned to the court two weeks ago and has not dropped a match since, going 2-0 at No. 2 singles and 1-0 in doubles.  

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.