SAN DIEGO – No. 8 seeded UC Irvine opened the Big West Championship with a convincing 4-0 victory over No. 9 seeded UC Riverside on Wednesday afternoon in the first round.
 
Emily Fowler and Kayla Meraz teamed up on court one in doubles play for the 6-1 victory. No. 2 pairing of Carolyna Fowler and Asha Gidwani avenged their regular season doubles loss in a 6-1 effort to clinch the first point of the match for the Anteaters.
 
C. Fowler continued to play tremendous at the No. 4 singles spot as she did not drop a game in the first set against Kamya Nair, 6-0. The sophomore went 6-2 in the second set to collect the second point.
 
On court five, Haily Huynh was next to finish a singles contest for the 'Eaters. Huynh pushed the Anteater advantage to 3-0 with her 6-3, 6-1 victory.
 
The match was clinched on court six by way of Larissa Teramura. The sophomore took down her opposition handily in the first set, 6-1, before fighting all the way to 7-5 for the match win.
 
"Great doubles today," remarked head coach Elizabeth Ferris Smith. "No. 1's were coachable and played the basics well. High percentage of first serves, hitting and anticipating, and making solid returns got then the win. No. 2's played with a lot of confidence. They avenged our loss against them during regular season."

"UC Riverside made us earn every match in singles. Carolyna [Fowler] got us started with a win by playing the basics well. She was as totally focused on exciting the game plan. We had set leads on court 1, 2, 5, 6 bur second sets became a little tricky. Amanda [Perez] was down 5-2 against a very confident opponent. She saved several match points to win the set 7-5. Haily [Huynh] and Larissa [Teramura] did great to close out their matches and give us the win. We are feeling good and looking forward to our match tomorrow!"

SINGLES DRAWS
Emily Fowler/Kayla Meraz (UCI) def. Kamya Nair/Brionna Nguyen (UCR) 6-1  
Carolyna Fowler/Asha Gidwani (UCI) def. Crystal Kim/Maya Youssef (UCR) 6-1  
Jenna Schlatter/Larissa Teramura (UCI) vs. Niki Shahbazi/Sydney Tran (UCR) 3-2 uf  
 
SINGLES DRAWS
Jenna Schlatter (UCI) vs. Brionna Nguyen (UVR) 6-3, 5-6 uf  
Asha Gidwani (UCI) vs. Maya Youssef (UCR) 6-3, 1-6, 2-0 uf
Amanda Perez (UCI) vs. Crystal Kim (UCR) 7-5, 3-4 uf
Carolyna Fowler (UCI) def. Kamya Nair (UCR) 6-0, 6-2
Haily Huynh (UCI) def. Niki Shahbazi (UCR) 6-3, 6-1
Larissa Teramura (UCI) def. Sydney Tran (UCR) 6-1, 7-5
 
WHAT THE PLAYERS HAD TO SAY
"I am extremely proud of the energy from everyone today. Feeding off each other's energy gave me the confidence to play my game. With Liz on my court, I was able to execute the game plan that we had been working on this entire season. I'm pleased with how I stayed coachable under pressure and did what I had to do to get us a point. Asha and I did what I knew we could do, and we relied on each other. I'm excited to bring this energy to our game tomorrow. Go 'Eaters!" -Carolyna Fowler
 
"Today was an exciting first round of the Big West Championship! The team started off strong with good doubles wins, and we carried that positive energy and momentum into the singles. I'm proud of how the whole team was so supportive of each other, and that contributed to this great result. I am glad that I could clinch the match for the team, and I'm excited for tomorrow! Go 'Eaters!" -Larissa Teramura

UP NEXT
UCI will face the No. 1 seed in UC Santa Barbara at 9 a.m. on Thursday Apr. 25 inside the Barnes Tennis Center.