Women's Tennis 2025-26 Season Recap
May 27, 2026 | Women's Tennis
IRVINE, Calif. – Closing its season with a berth in the Big West Championship and a 12-10 overall record, UC Irvine women's tennis had its most successful season in recent history in 2025-26.
ROAD WIN GETS THE BALL ROLLING
After dropping two matches at home to start the season, UCI headed north on the I-5 to take on Santa Clara where the Anteaters beat the Broncos in a 4-3 thriller. The win was UC Irvine's first on the road and in the 2026 dual match season. Bella Pitchford recorded her first clinch of the season, finishing off a crucial victory to get the Anteaters in the win column.
HISTORIC WIN STREAK PROPELS ANTEATERS
After returning from a defeat at Cal State Fullerton, the Anteaters ripped off a massive winning streak to put themselves well over .500 early in the season. Starting with a win over Portland, UCI netted seven wins straight, its highest total since 2013-14.
Highlight moments from the historic streak included a 7-0 sweep of Occidental in Los Angeles that represented Quin Brady, Ani Vanetsyan and Lindsay Kim's first career dual match singles victories, a 4-3 thriller victory at home over Bowling Green and a final victory of the streak over Colorado State that finished with a second Pitchford singles clinch on the season.
RECORD BOOK REFRESH
Bella Pitchford added her name to the Anteater record book, tying Brooke Schweyer at 9th on the all-time No. 5 line singles victory list with 11. Pitchford added an 11-6 record in doubles dual matches in 2026. The Los Angeles native excelled overall in 2025-26, recording a career high in singles format dual matches played (19) and victories (14).
Carolyna Fowler also continued to climb up the ranks of the Anteater record book in her senior year, adding eight doubles dual match wins to pass her sister and Anteater alumni Emily Fowler and land at 21st all-time in doubles victories with 38.
Haily Huynh continued her rise up the record book as well, adding eight more singles victories to bring her career total to 40. The four-year Anteater finishes her career at #28 all-time in dual match singles victories.
RANKED VICTORIES
UC Irvine had a historic year beating ranked teams in 2026. The success began with a road win over #64 Hawai'i in March where UCI came back from down 3-1 to defeat the Rainbow Wahine 4-3. The victory was netted by three straight singles wins with UCI's back back against the wall, finished off by Carolyna Fowler in straight sets. The win was UC Irvine's first ranked victory since defeating #48 San Diego State in 2013-14.
The Anteaters' second ranked victory of the year was even more cinematic, coming against #73 Cal Poly on UC Irvine's Senior Day. After a rain delay pushed singles play ahead of doubles play in the hopes that a winner would be decided via the singles format, a 3-3 split in singles caused a rare doubles point clincher scenario. The Anteaters dropped the first match of the three-match doubles, but got a win from Bella Pitchford and Quin Brady to even doubles at 1. As fate would have it, UCI got the ranked win and Senior Day clinching victory from its four-year Anteater senior pair Carolyna Fowler and Amanda Perez, who finished off their No. 1 line victory 6-3. '
The match gave UCI their second ranked win, its most since 2013-14.
ANTEATERS CLAIM WINNINGEST SEASON OF DECADE
UCI enjoyed plenty of success in 2025-26, winning 12 matches and recording its winningest season since the 2018-19 campaign where the Anteaters won 14 matches overall. UC Irvine enjoyed eight of their victories at home, winning four road matches and claiming two ranked victories and three Big West victories along the way.
ALL-BIG WEST AWARD 'EATERS
Closing out the season with three All-Big West recipients, UC Irvine continued to make its mark. Yen Nhi Huynh, Carolyna Fowler and Amanda Perez were named to the All-Big West Second Team, recognized for another season of excellence.
The award served as Huynh's second time on the Second Team and first being recognized for her singles play. The sophomore went 9-10 overall in singles on the year, with all of her matches coming on the No. 1 line.
Fowler and Perez were added to the Second Team as a doubles pair. The seniors also excelled in 2026, going 8-9 on the season and playing all matches on the No. 1 line. It's the third straight season the Anteaters received an All-Big West award for play on the doubles line.
SENIOR GOODBYES MARK END OF AN ERA
UCI celebrated four graduating seniors on their Senior Day: Haily Huynh, Carolyna Fowler, Amanda Perez and Nour Khayat. All four Anteaters spent the duration of their four seasons at UC Irvine.
Huynh, a two-year captain, finished her final season at UCI with 40 singles victories and an eight-singles win final year. The captain added five doubles wins in 2026, tallying 13 over the course of her career.
Fowler, a 2025-26 captain, finished her career off with eight more singles wins to bring her final career tally to 25. Playing on the No. 1 line with Perez, Fowler finished her career with 38 doubles wins.
Perez closed her career with 15 singles victories. The senior added three more this season, playing all of her dual matches on the No. 2 line. She recorded eight doubles victories this season and 22 overall in her career.
Khayat did not compete in 2025-26, but the Irvine native still made her mark on the program during her four years at UCI. Khayat recorded three dual wins as an Anteater in singles while adding seven dual wins in doubles.
