California Irvine Athletics

IRVINE, Calif.— UC Irvine heads to the Big West Championship held at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. The Anteaters, the nine-seed, will rematch the fourth-seeded Long Beach State at 1 p.m. in the first round on Thursday (Apr. 24).

Notes

• UC Irvine dropped their two contests over the weekend
• The Anteaters hold a 10-12 overall record, 1-8 league record, heading into the Big West Championship this week
• UCI will play in the opening round of the championship where they are 6-4 in the opening round and have won their first match for three straight seasons
• Freshman Yen Nhi Huynh was named the conference's player of the week, the program's first since 2022, after winning three of her four matches
• Against No. 72 Long Beach State…
  • The Anteaters jumped out in front first in doubles action as Carolyna Fowler and Yen Nhi Huynh downed the Beach's Johnna Hiesmair and Thea Jagare on court two, but Long Beach State took the doubles point in two straight wins
  • The Beach rattled off three straight singles wins at No. 5, No. 2, and No. 3 to clinch the match overall
  • UCI did not let up easy in the matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, bring at least one set in each of those contests to 7-5
  • Y. Huynh put the Anteaters on the board with her comeback 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory at the No. 4 spot
• Versus Hawai'i…
  • The Anteaters opened the match up strong as they clinched the doubles point
  • On court three, the duo of Amanda Perez and Maily Huynh made quick work of the Rainbow Wahine, 6-1 before UH took the second doubles match, 6-3, needing a result at the remaining doubles spot to determine the point
  • Kayla Meraz and Haily Huynh went the distance on court three, 6-4, to earn the point for the 'Eaters
  • Y. Huynh once again pulled out an individual victory for UCI, downing UH's Galindo 6-1, 6-1 to give the home team a 2-0 lead
  • Hawai'i won the remaining five singles matches
• Y. Huynh is one of three Anteaters with double digit wins on the year, leading the way with a 15-5 overall record and 5-4 against conference opponents. Most of her wins come at the No. 4 spot where she is 6-1
• Haily Huynh is next with a 14-5 overall record followed by Maily Huynh at 10-8
• Senior Kayla Meraz is on track to hit double digit victories as she is currently sitting at 9-7 overall
• The duo of Carolyna Fowler and Y. Huynh are 12-3 overall and hold a 5-3 edge over conference foes
• UC Irvine is 7-29 against Long Beach State all-time and have lost 11 straight matches to the Beach
• The last time the two teams met in the tournament was the championship match in 2014 when LBSU finished on top, 4-2

 
Scouting No. 72 Long Beach State
The No. 4 seed and 73rd nationally ranked Long Beach State enters the match with a 14-5 overall record and ended 6-3 against Big West opponents. The last regular season match for the Beach was their 6-1 victory over the Anteaters.
 
LBSU has four players with double figure individual wins, led by Cecilla Costa's 14-5 dual match record, 7-2 in the Big West. Costa dominates at the No. 2 spot where she is 13-3 against opponents. Following that Thea Jagare holds a 13-5 dual match record while Daria Malaescu is 12-6. Jagare (11-4) plays most of her matches at No. 3 while Malaescu (11-4) completes her work at No. 4. Pamela Badillo enters the fold with 10-6 record in dual matches, all at the No. 5 spot. Johanna Heismair has been paired with a few different people in doubles action but holds the Beach's top-mark at 11-7.