IRVINE, Calif.— UC Irvine women's tennis heads up the road to nearby No. 17 USC on Saturday Jan. 18 to open the 2025 dual match season.

Notes

• Head coach Elizabeth Ferris Smith returns six players from the 2023-24 season
• Senior Kayla Meraz and junior Haily Huynh will captain this year's squad
• Junior Carolyna Fowler brings all-conference experience to the court as an All-Big West Honorable Mention doubles from the prior season
• Assistant coach Jurence Mendoza comes back for his second season on the sidelines for the Anteaters and is joined by Hermont Legaspi who was a standout at Sacramento State
• Fall competition was competitive for UCI as they played in four different tournaments to gain experience for the spring
• Meraz shined, moving onto the main draw in singles at the ITA Southwest Regional and made a quarterfinal run at the Long Beach Fall Invitational
• At the UCI Fall Invite, the Anteaters collected 18 singles victories over two days of competition
• No. 21 USC holds the 15-0 series advantage over UC Irvine
• The two squads last met in Los Angeles in 2024 where the Ladies of Troy defeated the Anteaters, 7-0

Southern California
No. 17 USC will open their spring slate on Friday Jan. 17 against No. 7 Texas in preparation for their contest with UCI.

Three Women of Troy are ranked in singles play in the ITA individual poll, Grace Piper (37th), Emma Charney (45th), and Imogen Haddad (57th). Additionally, the duo of Lily Fairclough and Piper are ranked seventh in the doubles poll.

Piper impresses as she was named to the 2025 Big Ten Conference Players to Watch list, the only player from USC to earn this honor. Through fall competition, Piper was an NCAA Round of 32 player and advanced to the round of 16 action in the national doubles tournament.