Riverside–The UC Riverside Men's Tennis Team hosts a pair of matches on Wednesday April 12th at the SRC Tennis Courts. They begin the day with Hope International at 9 am. Then at 2 pm, the Highlanders play their first Big West Conference match of 2017 against UC Irvine.
 
 UCR knocked off Hope International 7-0 earlier in the year (story).
 
The Highlanders are coming off a 6-1 home win over a #8 ranked Division III University of Redlands team on Saturday. Their victory over the Bulldogs tied last year's program record for DI wins with 13.

Freshman Gilbert Chung brings an eight-match winning streak in singles play to the SRC Courts. He picked up victories in singles and doubles in the Highlanders' lone match last week, and boasts a 15-7 singles record primarily at position no. 4.

UC Irvine comes into the Inland Empire having dropped a, 5-2, decision to Cal Poly in their first match of conference play.

The no. 1 singles player for the Anteaters, Sebastian Heim has been featured three consecutive times in the Oracle/ITA National Men's Singles Top-125 Poll from Feb. 8-March 7. Heim's highest ranking of the Spring has been No. 95.
 
The doubles tandem of Heim and Luis Lopez have the most dual match wins on the team with six. The pair has played primarily at the no. 2 position.
 
Last year, the 'Eaters defeated the Highlanders by a score of, 5-2, in a neutral match site in Hawai'i. The two schools also squared off in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament in Indian Wells, where the Anteaters prevailed 4-0.
 
The Highlanders will be looking for their first victory over UC Irvine, the Anteaters have won all 20 meetings between the clubs.

Friday, April 14th UCR will take on Westmont in Santa Barbara at 2 pm, before battling the Cal Poly Mustangs Saturday at noon in San Luis Obispo.

In last year's match-up with the Mustangs, they Highlanders fell, 4-0, at the SRC Tennis Center.