UC Irvine Anteaters (8-11, 1-4) vs. No. 70 Cal Poly Mustangs
Friday, April 15 - 1:30 PM PDT
Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
UC Irvine Anteaters (8-11, 1-4) vs. No. 25 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (13-6, 5-0)
Saturday, April 16 -Â 12:00Â PM PDT
Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Â
UCI is back on the road to Hawai'i for matches Friday and Saturday ending with the Rainbow Wahine in the first of five straight Big West contests to finish the regular season
Â
Storylines
- UC Irvine women's tennis recognizes its six seniors this weekend - Megan Mansonhing, Jessica Tsukiji, Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico, Alyssia Fossorier, Dasee Carter, and Shreya Pavani
- Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico leads the squad with 10 dual singles wins, all coming at No. 1. Her string of eight straight singles wins ended with a loss Saturday at Hawai'i
- Other winning records in singles are Emily Fowler at 10-6, Alyssia Fossorier at 9-7, Dasee Carter now 5-3, and 3-1 for Megan Mansonhing after winning her last match vs. Chaminade. Jessica Tsukiji has eight singles wins including two in conference play along with Gonzalez-Rico and Fossorier
- The team remains above .500 in dual singles at 55-52
- Anteater doubles are 32-23 overall with a 9-8 mark from the duo of Alyssia Fossorier and Jessica Tsukiji
- Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico is 11-3Â overall in doubles between four different doubles partners and won nine consecutive doubles sets
- Three other Anteaters have won 10 doubles sets in Fossorier, Tsukiji, and Emily Fowler
- Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico claimed her first career Big West Player of the Week award on March 21 going 5-0 across singles and doubles two weeks ago
- The Anteaters competed in three fall tournaments and the CSUF Spring Invite to start 2022 taking home a total of 27 singles wins and eight doubles wins
- The women's tennis squad finished the fall quarter with the highest grade point average in UCI athletics. "This team takes great pride in their studies and I'm so happy they are being recognized for all their efforts. This is quite an impressive accomplishment," praised coach Ferris.
- Five Anteaters were among the 113 student-athletes on the Fall 2021 Dean's List - Dasee Carter, Megan Mansonhing, Shreya Pavani, Mia Totah, and Jessica Tsukiji - by taking 12 or more units with a 3.500 GPA or higher
Last Time Out
- UCI traveled to Hawai'i playing two matches
- Both ended in sweeps with UCI on the winning end vs. Division II Chaminade and falling to finish the weekend at the hands of Hawai'i
- The 'Eaters won every single point and set vs. Chaminade while the loss to the Rainbow Wahine featured all losses aside from a win at No. 1 doubles for Fossorier ane Tsukiji
Cal Poly Mustangs
The Mustangs start things off Friday afternoon entering ranked No. 70 in the nation. At 13-5, they've scored wins over ranked Fresno State and Hawai'i squads while taking points off of No. 18 USC just last week. They also stands spotless in Big West play going 6-0 so far
Kim Bhunu is the top Mustang going 9-5 at No. 1 singles. She's teamed up in doubles with Emily Ackerman to go 12-2. Melissa LaMette is coming off a player of the week honor two weeks ago while leading Cal Poly in singles dual wins at 10 and adding a nine doubles set wins
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
UCSB is in the midst of an historic season currently with a 13-6 record and 5-0 in the Big West. They've taken points off of squads like Cal, Arizona State, and even defeated Washington State, but recently had some seismic victories over No. 12 USC, No. 24 Stanford, and No. 34 Texas Tech. The surge has bumped them into the rankings sitting 25th nationally entering the week.
Shakhnoza Khatamova leads the charge as the No. 88-ranked singles player in the nation. She's 9-7 in dual play at No. 1 and 18 wins overall. She and Elizabeta Voldko are ranked as a doubles pair at No. 69 in the nation. As a squad, the Gauchos have won six player of the week honors with help from names like Camille Kiss and Amelia Honer taking home 11 dual singles wins each.
