Women's Tennis Matches 6, 7 & 8

Saturday, February 10 vs Colorado State Univ. @ 10 am Las Vegas, NV Saturday, February 10 at UNLV @ 2 pm Las Vegas, NV Sunday, February 11 vs Youngstown State Univ. @ 10 am Las Vegas, NV

 
Las Vegas, NV— The UC Riverside Women's Tennis Team (1-4) travels to Las Vegas, NV for three contests at the Fertitta Tennis Complex this weekend. The Highlanders will take on the Colorado State University Rams (2-3) Saturday at 10 am and the UNLV Rebels (3-3) Saturday at 2 pm. UCR will face the Youngstown State University Penguins (0-5) Sunday at 10 am.

In their last meeting on March 4, 2017, the Rams swept the Highlanders 4-0 in Las Vegas, NV (Recap). Colorado State University went on to finish the 2017 season 9-14 overall and 2-3 at neutral sites.

UNLV finished last season 18-8-1 overall and won 16 of its 21 home matches. The Rebels blanked the Highlanders 4-0 in their last meeting on March 4, 2017. 

Youngstown State University finished its 2017 season 16-9 and were 4-1 at neutral sites. The Highlanders and Penguins last met in 2015 at the SRC Tennis Courts where the Highlanders fell 5-2 (Recap).

LAST WEEK
The Highlanders dropped a 6-1 decision to Big West Conference opponent Cal State Fullerton (3-1) on Saturday (Recap). Tia Elpusan (2-2 in singles) prevailed 7-6, 4-6, 10-6 against opponent Luxizi Meng (1-1 in singles).

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Sara Khattab earned the first Big West Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honor for UC Riverside in nearly six years, excelling in singles and doubles during her matches against Hope International, Long Beach State and Grand Canyon January 25-28 (Recap). Khattab's most outstanding victory came when she won the lone singles match for UC Riverside in its Big West opener against Long Beach State, charting 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) against Lalita Devarakonda at the No. 3 position.

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).