IRVINE, Calif.—After playing three exhibition tournaments in the fall, UC Irvine is prepared to take on No. 21 Southern California in Los Angeles for their season opener on Thursday Jan. 18.

Notes

• Head coach Elizabeth Ferris Smith retained 12 players from the 2022-23 roster
• Ferris Smith recently added Jurence Mendoza to her staff as an assistant coach
• UC Irvine women's tennis alumnae Alyssia Fossorier will make her appearance on the sidelines a volunteer assistant coach
• Graduate student Jenna Schlatter and junior Kayla Meraz were named as the team captains for the season
• Meraz and Schlatter started the fall strong as they both advanced to the championship brackets as individuals and as a pairing the Long Beach Fall Invitational
• 11 players competed in the fall combining for 28 singles victories
• No. 21 USC holds the 14-0 series advantage over UC Irvine
• The two squads last met in the 2014 where the Ladies of Troy defeated the Anteaters, 7-0
• UC Irvine will take two weeks off before kicking off Big West action at Hawai'i

Southern California
No. 21 USC will open their spring competition in a doubleheader with LMU (12 p.m.) before taking on the Anteaters in a 4 p.m. showdown.

Five Women of Troy are ranked in singles play in the ITA individual poll, Emma Charney (22nd), Snow Han (33rd), Naomi Cheong (42nd), Grace Piper (66th), and Eryn Cayetano (83rd). Additionally, the duos of Cayetano and Charney and Piper and Parker Fry are ranked 10th and 29th respectively in the doubles poll.

Charney had an impressive fall as she captured the ITA 2023 All-American Doubles Consolation champion with teammate Cayetano, women's ITA Southwest Regional single title, and capped it off with a trip to the ITA National Fall Championships single semifinals.