IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine women's tennis team will play future Big West member UC San Diego at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20.
 
UCI's Big West match against CSUN originally scheduled for Saturday, March 22 at 11 a.m. has now been postponed to a later date due to inclement weather forecast.
 
STORYLINES

• UCI is 3-4 on the season coming off a 1-1 weekend with a loss to Utah (0-4) and a win against Chapman (7-2)
• The Anteaters return 11 players from the roster last year
• The doubles pair of Stephanie Nguyen and Alyssia Fossorier are 3-1 playing at the No. 2 position
• Jessica Tsukiji remains undefeated in singles with a 2-0 record after her match against Utah went unfinished
• Three returning Anteaters earned Scholar-Athlete accolades last year including Dasee Carter, Shreya Pavani and Jessica Tsukiji
• UCI as a team overall, earned a 3.4 GPA for last year and were named an ITA All-Academic Team
• Three Anteaters earned Big West Honors last year. Stephanie Nguyen was named honorable mention in singles while the duo of Jessica Tsukiji and Flora Amiri earned honorable mention in doubles
• Head coach Elizabeth Ferris is in her fourth year at the head of Women's Tennis team.
• Halla Alajeely is a transfer from Irvine Valley College where she was a JUCO All-American in Singles and Doubles
• Jenna Schlatter is the only freshman on the team
• 12 out of the 13 Anteaters are from California while Alyssia Fossorier is from Hawaii.

LAST TIME OUT

• UCI played two matches last weekend finishing with a 1-1 record
• The 'Eaters lost to Utah 4-0. However, three singles matches went unfinished at the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 positions. Stephanie Nguyen/Alyssia Fossorier led at No. 2 doubles, 4-3, when the match was called
• UCI beat Chapman 7-2
• The Anteaters swept all singles matches against Chapman and the duo of Arianna Tilbury/Dana Mackensen won at the No. 1 doubles position, 8-1
• Tilbury finished the weekend with a 1-0 singles record and 1-1 in doubles

FALL RECAP
UCI competed in four tournaments during the fall season. The 'Eaters started the tournament schedule off at the Long Beach Invitational with Alyssia Fossorier, Dana Mackensen, Jacqueline Tsodikova and Dasee Carter getting their first wins of the year.
The Anteaters would then play at the ITA Southwest Regional Tournament with four players earning wins at the tournament.
The team would then go on to play at the Jack Kramer Invitational with Stephanie Nguyen and Halla Alajeely claiming singles wins at the tournament.
The 'Eaters finished their tournament play at the SDSU Fall Classic II which saw the weekend be highlighted by Alyssia Fossorier who won the championship in her flight

THE OPPONENT

• UC San Diego is 2-3 on the season
• The Tritons come off three matches in Hawai'i, losing to No. 8 Hawaii Pacific (0-4) and earning wins against Hawaii-Hilo (4-1) and Dallas Baptist (6-1)
• After battling UCI on Saturday, UCSD plays Azusa Pacific on Saturday
• The Tritons roster has three seniors, two sophomores, and six freshman

MEET THE NEWCOMERS
The UCI Women's Tennis team welcomes back eleven players from last year while only bringing in two new players. Junior Halla Alajeely is a transfer from Irvine Valley College where she was a JUCO All-American in singles and doubles as well as the ITA Rookie of the Year in 2018. Freshman Jenna Schlatter comes from Saint Helena, Calif and is a four-star recruit and the only freshman on the team.

UP NEXT
UCI travels to play UC Santa Cruz Saturday, Feb. 29 at 11 a.m.