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UC Irvine Anteaters (8-15, 1-8) vs. UC Riverside Highlanders (3-14, 0-9)
Wednesday, April 27- 12:00Â PM
Barnes Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.
Live Stats
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The Big West Championship begins with UCI taking on UC Riverside in the 8-9 matchup Wednesday
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Big West Championship
The annual tournament makes its way to Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego for the first time. The Anteaters are in the 8-9 matchup four a fourth time. The 2021 tournament, UCI fell in the quarterfinals to Cal State Fullerton, 4-0, and have dropped all points the last four times reaching the quarterfinals. The 'Eaters have lost the last two 8-9 matchups, both to UC Riverside in 2018 and 2019; they're looking for their first tournament round win since the 2017 opening-round matchup.
A win Wednesday would pit the 'Eaters against No. 25 and top-seeded UC Santa Barbara on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. who they took a point off of a couple weeks ago. The last meeting with UCSB came in 2015 with a semifinal round loss, 4-3. The Gauchos are the defending champions and broke a string in 2021 of three straight tournaments that were not won by the No. 1 seed.
UC Riverside Highlanders
The Highlanders aer 3-14 on the year with all three wins coming against common opponents - Hope International, Westmont, and Chaminade. The Anteaters took the matchup against UCR, 4-3, in mid-February, and it stands as 1 of 2 matches the Highlanders have avoided a sweep along with a 5-2 loss last week to UC San Diego.
The 4-3 Anteater win featured a doubles sweep by UC Irvine and a pair of singles retirements. Sofia Lazzaroni at No. 3 and Sydney Tran at No. 6 took singles points, and have had the most success in 2022 with Tran with three dual match singles wins and the team's wins leader, Lazzaroni, with four in 2022; two each at Nos. 3 and 4 singles. The Highlanders have seven doubles wins with none in conference play. The duos of Sydney Tran-Sofia Lazzaroni (2-1) and Natalie Shamma-Serina Saltzen (2-2) have had the most doubles success.
Storylines
- Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico has taken home two Big West Athlete of the Week honors; once on March after going 5-0 across singles and doubles, and her second two weeks ago going 2-1 which included an upset of No. 88 Shakanoza Khatamova of UCSB in singles
- Gonzalez-Rico leads the squad with 11 dual singles wins, all coming at No. 1. She is 11-7, 19-11 overall, and leads UCI with three singles win in conference play
- Emily Fowler also comes in with a 10-8 singles record between four different singles positions including winning records at Nos. 2 and 3 and a team-high four wins at No. 4
- Alyssia Fossorier enters the tournament with 15 overall singles wins and nine in dual match play with winning records at Nos. 1 and 2 and three wins each at Nos. 3 and 4
- Jessica Tsukiji has 12 overall singles wins, eight in dual matches, and seven at No. 2 singles
- Dasee Carter has returned from injury to go 6-6 in dual match play with four wins at No. 5
- Anteater doubles are 33-31 overall and six set wins in conference play, and are 15-5 at No. 2 doubles as a tem
- UCI's top duo is Alyssia Fossorier and Jessica Tsukiji with nine dual match wins, all at No. 1 doubles, and 12 overall wins
- Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico and Emily Fowler each have winning doubles records including 4-0 as a duo. Gonzalez-Rico is 12-4 overall with four different partners. Fowler comes in at 11-8 with a win at all three positions across three different partners
- 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
- UC Irvine women's tennis recognized its six seniors in their final home match - Megan Mansonhing, Jessica Tsukiji, Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico, Alyssia Fossorier, Dasee Carter, and Shreya Pavani
- The women's tennis squad finished both fall and winter quarters 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
- Again for the Winter 2022 Dean's List, five Anteaters were recognized among 116 UCI student-athletes with Carter, Mansonhin, Pavani, and Tsukiji returning along with new addition to the list, Jenna Schlatter
