Big West Tournament - First Round
No. 7 UC Irvine vs.
No. 2 CS Fullerton
Date: Thursday, April 29
Time: 11:30 a.m. (PDT)
Location: The Great Park - Irvine, Calif.
Live Results // Tournament Central

IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine women's tennis enters the Big West Tournament as the No. 7 seed and will open the tournament against No. 2 seed Cal State Fullerton at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 29.  The winner advances to Friday's semifinal against the winner of No. 3 Cal Poly and No. 6 CSUN. The championship match is slated for a 9 a.m. start on Saturday, May 1.

STORYLINES
- The Anteaters and Titans will meet for the third time this season as CSF won both previous matches by scores of 4-3 and 4-0, respectively
- UCI is 2-10 on the season and finished 2-6 in conference play. The Anteaters earned the No. 7 seed at the Big West Tournament, one spot ahead of No. 8 UC Riverside who UCI beat earlier this year, 5-2
- UCI earned two conference wins this season against UC San Diego, 5-2, and UC Riverside, 5-2
- Emily Fowler and Jenna Schlatter lead UCI with three singles wins apiece while Dasee Carter has two wins this season
- The doubles team of Schlatter and Arianna Tilbury is 2-0 this season at the No. 2 position
- UCI concluded the shortened 2020 season 5-7 overall and 0-2 in conference action
- Jessica Tsukiji posted the top singles dual-match record in 2020 at 5-1. Overall, she was 8-5 in singles. Tsukiji won both Big West Conference matches that were played
- Jenna Schlatter returns for her sophomore season after a strong freshman debut. She went 5-2 during the dual-match season in 2020
- Tsukiji is UCI's only returning All-Big West player
- In total, UCI returns 10 players from last year's squad
- The Anteaters have three new faces in the lineup
- Head coach Elizabeth Ferris returns for her fifth season at the helm
- UCI was named an ITA All-Academic Team for the third straight year in 2020 and had six players earn scholar-athlete honors, including Halla Alajeely, Dasee Carter, Shreya Pavani and Jessica Tsukiji

AT THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT
UCI will see postseason action for the first time since 2019 after the 2020 Big West Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. Since 1989, UCI is 41-38 in Big West Tournament matches. The Anteaters have advanced to the championship 11 times, winning one title in 2010. They are 3-4 when playing in the first round, 19-7 in quarterfinal matches and 11-8 in the semifinals. In 2019, UCI fell in the first round to UC Riverside, 4-3

A GLANCE AT THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
The 'Eaters are 1-6 against the rest of the Big West Tournament field with their win coming against UC Riverside. If UCI wins Thursday, it will face the winner of No. 3 Cal Poly/No. 6 CSUN. The other two quarterfinal matches are set – No. 1 UCSB vs. No. 8 UC Riverside and No. 4 UC Davis vs. No. 5 Hawai'i.

LAST TIME OUT
- UCI dropped a conference match to UC Davis, 4-0
- Mia Totah saw her first career start. She played at No. 6 singles and fell, 6-3, 6-0 to UCD's Kristina Evloeva
- At No. 4 singles, Emily Fowler led the second set, 4-2, when the match was clinched
- The Aggies clinched the match with a win on court two

ABOUT CS FULLERTON
- CSF is 12-5 on the season and finished 6-2 in conference play. The Titans only conference losses came against UC Davis, 4-3 and UCSB, 6-1
- The Titans are riding a five-game winning streak and have not lost a match since March 31
- UCI has lost two-straight to CSF this season
- Julliette Daries leads CSF with an 11-4 singles record, followed by Natalie Duffy with a 10-5 record
- The duo of Duffy and YuSeung Suh leads the team in doubles with a 10-3 record

SCHLATTER NAMED BIG WEST ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
- Sophomore Jenna Schlatter was named the Big West Athlete of the Week for the week of Feb. 17. It marked the first career weekly award for Schlatter and the first for an Anteaters since 2017
- Schlatter earned the 'Eaters lone singles point after defeating SJSU's Tamara Culibrk, 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 3 spot

NEW FACES
Freshmen Emily Fowler, Mia Totah and Raquel Pareja all enter their first seasons with the 'Eaters. Fowler and Pareja hail from San Diego while Totah comes to UCI from Aptos.

SUMMER CIRCUIT
Freshman Mia Totah competed in two ITA Summer Circuit events and advanced to the final round in both tournaments.