Women's Tennis Matches 2, 3 & 4

Thursday, January 25 vs Hope International @ 1:30 pm Riverside, CA Friday, January 26 vs Long Beach State @ 1:30 pm Riverside, CA Sunday, January 28 vs Grand Canyon @ 11 am Riverside, CA

Riverside, CA— The UC Riverside Women's Tennis Team continues 2018 dual match play hosting three contests starting with their home opener on the SRC Tennis Courts versus Hope International at 1:30 pm Thursday. UCR will take on Long Beach State Friday, and Grand Canyon on Sunday.

Hope International's Royals finished last season 2-15 overall and were 0-8 in the Mountain West Conference. In their last matchup on February 10, 2017, the Highlanders blanked the Royals, 7-0, notching their first team win in 2017 dual play (Recap). Thursday's match will be the Royals' first match of 2018 dual play.

Long Beach State will also begin their 2018 dual match play at UC Riverside. The Highlanders fell 7-0 to Beach when they last met February 4, 2017 (Recap). Long Beach State has recorded at least 17 wins per season since 2007-08, last season being their fewest wins in the last decade (17-6).

Grand Canyon is 2-2 in 2018 as of Tuesday, January 23. UC Riverside dropped a 7-0 decision to Grand Canyon when they last met in 2016.

JORDAN YEAR
Head Coach Mark Henry returns for his 23rd season as the women's tennis head coach, and his 25th season overall at UC Riverside. In that time, he has accumulated 160 total wins—133 of which have come on the women's side.

LAST YEAR
The Highlanders are coming off a 2016-17 season in which they won five matches, their most since 2010-11.

RETURNERS
UC Riverside returns nine players from last year's roster for its 2018 campaign. That includes senior Karla Dulay and sophomore Sara Khattab, who both earned five singles wins last season while spending much of their time on the no. 1 and no. 2 courts.

Junior Tracy Van, who tied for the team-lead with six wins during the dual season, will also be back in the lineup. Tracy Van and Lauren Wolfe combined to lead the way with a 5-5 record in doubles matches, giving them the highest win percentage of any Highlander doubles team since the 2008-09 season.

Rounding out the returners are seniors Tamilla Vaksman, Kassie Truong and Natalie Penner, redshirt junior Chloe Pham, junior Arabella Valera, and sophomore Nicole Hitomi. Vaksman had the most overall wins (8) and highest win percentage (.444) on the team last year.

NEW FACES
The Highlanders will also welcome a pair of freshmen to the lineup in Tia Elpusan (Chula Vista, CA / Otay Ranch HS) and Tammy Van (Garden Grove, CA / Bolsa Grande HS).