Match 7

UC Davis Aggies (2-4, 0-0 BWC)
at
Cal State Fullerton Titans (3-3, 0-1 BWC)

Saturday, Feb. 14 - 11 a.m.
Titan Courts - Fullerton, Calif.


Match 8

UC Davis Aggies
at
CSUN Matadors (1-0, 0-0 BWC)

Sunday, Feb. 15 - 1 p.m.
Matador Tennis Complex - Northridge, Calif.


Match 9

UC Davis Aggies
at
UC Irvine Anteaters (4-1, 0-0 BWC)

Saturday, Feb. 7 - 12 p.m.
UC Irvine Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.


DAVIS, Calif. - Big West competition will begin this weekend when women's tennis heads to Southern California to face three league teams in as many days. Included in this trip are stops at Cal State Fullerton, CSUN and UC Irvine.

MOTHER NATURE BEATS BOTH TEAMS
UC Davis' Feb. 7 road match, at Santa Clara, was postponed due to rainstorms that rolled through Northern California before, and throughout that weekend. That match has now been rescheduled and will take place on March 14 at 12 p.m.

THE SEASON WITHIN THE SEASON
When women's tennis returns to action this upcoming weekend, it will do so against league competition for the first time this year. Featured throughout this season's Southern California road swing are stops at Cal State Fullerton, CSUN and UC Irvine this Saturday, Sunday and Monday respectively.

Since joining the Big West Conference in 2007, the Aggies are 4-3 in league openers, and have won their last two in a row. UC Davis opened its conference slate against Cal State Fullerton in 2011, and left Titan Courts with a 7-0 sweep.

Including this year's opener, six of the Aggies' eight openers have taken place on the road; the team split its two matches that have taken place at the Marya Welch Tennis Center.

Big West Openers
2015: at Cal State Fullerton - TBD
2014: at UC Riverside - W, 7-0
2013: vs. Cal Poly - W, 5-2
2012: at UCSB - L, 4-3
2011: at Cal State Fullerton - W, 7-0
2010: at UCSB - L, 5-2
2009: vs. UCSB - L, 5-2
2008: at Pacific - W, 4-3

SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON
Even though Cal State Fullerton enters with a 3-3 dual record, the Titans have recorded all three victories on their home courts by defeating Nevada (4-3), UC San Diego (5-2) - a team the Aggies will face later this season and Azusa Pacific (4-3). The team's won over APU snapped a three-match slide for the Titans after dropping matchups at San Diego State, San Diego and Long Beach State by matching 6-1 results.

Three Titans hold 2-1 singles records: Alexis Valenzuela at No. 1, Michelle Erasmus at No. 5 and Jessica Pepa at No. 6. Including fall tournament action, Valenzuela holds the best singles record of the three at 6-6.

Of the three doubles teams that have competed in every Titan dual this spring, Camille de Leon and Megan Sandford hold the best mark of 4-2 at the No. 1 spot. Of those four, Fullerton's lone Big West doubles triumph is included.

Danielle Pham and Valenzuela hold a 3-3 record, at No. 2, as does Emilia Borkowski and Kalika Slevcove at No. 3.

SCOUTING CSUN
Due to unfortunate weather and a scheduling quirk, CSUN has only competed in one match this spring after the Matadors' matchup vs. Cal State Los Angeles was rained out. Before CSUN hosts UC Davis, the team will compete in its inaugural league match the day before at UC Riverside.

A three-match homestand will begin for CSUN starting with the Aggies' visit to the Valley. Cal State Fullerton and Eastern Michigan will visit the Matador Tennis Complex before the team travels to Cal Poly. After that, CSUN will host eight straight matches on its home courts.

Against Westmont College, the Matadors' lone dual opponent so far this season, Mickey Hsu recorded an individual sweep at No. 2 doubles and singles, Criss Rodriguez and Jessica Warren also swept both matches played; the pair won its doubles contest at No. 3, and singles matchups at No. 4 and No. 5 respectively.

On Jan. 31, CSUN topped Westmont by a 6-1 score.

SCOUTING NO. UC IRVINE

Only a loss at No. 64 Kansas State prevents UC Irvine - a team that was ranked No. 73 last week but slipped out of the national ranked when released bu the ITA on Tuesday - from holding an undefeated record heading into this weekend's matches against San Francisco and UC Davis - the final ones of its current four-match homestand.

It is imperative that UC Davis starts Monday's holiday dual on a strong note as the Anteaters collected the doubles point in all four victories.

Led by Kat Facey and her unblemished 4-0 singles record at No. 2, three UCI players have not been defeated this year. Arisha Ladhani has won all three matches at No. 2 and Andrea Duva took both played at No. 6.

As is the case with Cal State Fullerton, only three teams have competed in every dual this season for UCI. The Facey sisters, Ali and Kat, are 3-2 as their team's top pairing, Sarah Gong and Ladhani also sport an identical record at No. 2.

Vivien Dvali and Mazy Watrous are a perfect 5-0 at No. 3.

ARE THE EMTs NEARBY?
The 2015 spring season is only a few weeks old, and the Aggies have already competed in a couple of thrilling duals. When UC Davis faced Portland on Jan. 25, the Pilots edged the Aggies by a 4-3 score. Less than a week later when women's tennis hosted Pacific in its inaugural home event of the year, the final result came down to the final set of the final singles match - one that narrowly fell in the Tigers' favor.

SHE'S A FRESHMAN, BUT PLAYS LIKE ANYTHING BUT
Even though the final week of UC Davis' season-opening road trip was a rough one, freshman Kristy Jorgensen shined by winning three of her four matches played. Against Sacramento State, Jorgensen and her doubles partner, Layla Sanders, helped the Aggies capture the doubles point by winning their match at the No. 1 spot.

The very next day, Jorgensen swept both matches played - she and Sanders downed Pacific's top doubles team and captured a positive singles result at No. 5 against Cristina Saenz de Buruaga Ruiz - and was directly responsible for two of her team's three points.

GREEN EARNS BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK ACCOLADES
By collecting her first singles and doubles victory as an Aggie, and finishing her weekend in Oregon with two singles victories, Lani-Rae Green was named Big West Women's Tennis Player of the Week as announced by the conference office on Jan. 28.

At Portland State, Green and Pham helped the Aggies collect the first available team point with their 7-5 doubles victory at the No. 2 position. Later that day, Green simply outworked and outlasted the Vikings' Elena-Sabina Preda to earn her first individual collegiate sweep. Green's gutsy come-from-behind, three-set performance against Preda also featured two tiebreakers.

Less than 24 hours later when UC Davis visited Portland, Green collected another singles victory in three-set fashion when she defeated Jelena Lazarevic to wrap-up a perfect weekend in singles play.

Green is the first Aggie to receive weekly honors from the conference since Megan Heneghan was selected on April 23, 2014.

BUST OUT THE BROOMS
It may have taken UC Davis a bit of time to become comfortable playing on the faster-than-normal indoor surface at Portland State (1/24), but once the players adjusted, women's tennis dominated the Vikings from start to finish. In addition to sweeping doubles play, Kamila Kecki collected her second singles sweep of the year by defeating PSU's Alexa McDonald, 6-2, 6-2.

THE LONGER IT GOES, THE STRONGER THEY GET
Also featured in the Aggies' Jan. 24, non-conference match at Portland State were five three-set singles matches. By winning four of those marathon battles, UC Davis ended up recording a 6-1 victory against the Vikings.

Layla Sanders, Lani-Rae Gren and Jessie Lee each dropped the first set of their respective matches, but stormed back to with the next two sets to snatch a victory away from their opponents. In Green's situation, she also needed to fight through two tiebreakers before walking off the courts with a win.

TIME TO TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS
Freshman newcomer Jessie Lee did just that in her inaugural match as an Aggie when UC Davis started its spring schedule against Northern Arizona on Jan. 16. Competing at No. 5 singles, Lee's first Division I win was an impressive one as she trumped the Lumberjacks' Jordan Denesik in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-3.

THE FIRST OF MANY?
That's what UC Davis women's tennis fans hope will take place throughout the season after Layla Sanders and Kamila Kecki recorded their team's first individual sweeps en route to the Aggies' first win of the season.

In addition to her 6-3 victory alongside Kristy Jorgensen during doubles play, Sanders faced NAU's Johanna Vang once again in a battle between each team's top singles player. Even though Sanders dropped the first set, 6-3, she stormed back to win the next two, 6-4 and 6-3, to record her team's final point of the afternoon.

After pulling away to win her doubles match with Frederique Sleiffer, 7-5, Kecki earned her singles victory in a situation similar to Sanders. NAU's Livia Hollosy suffered her first loss of the day against Kecki in the doubles round before dropping her No. 6 singles match to Kecki hours later.

Kecki recorded her inaugural singles win of 2015 in straight-set fashion by identical 6-3 scores.

WHY WAIT?
Known for creating a challenging schedule each and every year, head coach Bill Maze wasted no time in testing his team by facing its first ranked opponent of the season, on opening weekend. UC Davis faced No. 32 Arizona State on Jan. 17; other tests against nationally ranked teams (ITA preseason poll) include a home match against No. 44 Long Beach State and a road contest at No. 72 UC Irvine.

The latest ITA team and individual rankings are available by clicking here.

BRINGING THE LUMBER
Including this season's spring opener, UC Davis faced Northern Arizona as its inaugural dual opponent on three occasions since joining the Big West Conference in 2007. Last weekend, the Aggies breezed past the Lumberjacks by a 5-2 score; UC Davis also won both matches played in '12 and '13 by respective scores of 7-0 and 6-1.

STRONG STARTS
Women's tennis entered its eighth spring opener as a Division I program with a 4-3 record, and emerged with a 5-3 mark hours later after defeating NAU, 5-2.

All three losses in previous spring openers were suffered against ranked opponents when Stanford (No. 1, 2014) and Arizona State (No. 19, 2008 and No. 30, 2010) topped the Aggies on their home courts.

BORDER CROSSINGS
This season's inaugural dual marked the sixth time in the last nine seasons that the Aggies traveled to the state of Arizona for their first spring event. Outside of 2010's and last season's spring opener - at Portland State and Stanford - all of the Aggies' other inaugural duals (as a Division I program) took place in Tempe or Tucson. UC Davis also visited Tempe in '07, '08, '11, and '12. In 2013, women's tennis opened its season in Tucson.

YOUTH WILL BE SERVED
With three members of last year's roster lost to graduation, this year's women's tennis team will skew young since Layla Sanders is the only senior competing for the Aggies this season. Combined with junior Tiffany Pham, the two are the lone upperclassmen on this year's roster.

Sophomore quartet Kamila Kecki, Samantha Martino, Claire Meunier and Frederique Sleiffer look to enhance their games this season now that each possess a year of Division I experience; just one year removed from their freshman season, the four will also help newcomers Lani-Rae Green, Kristy Jorgensen, Jessie Lee and Leilani Tice each make a successful transition from high school to college competition.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Last year, the Aggies hosted a season-long four-match homestand and never left the Marya Welch Tennis Center for almost a month. This season's block of home matches puts last year's to shame as the Aggies will end their season by playing 11 of their final 12 duals at home before heading to Southern California for this year's Big West Women's Tennis Tournament.

What begins this year on Feb. 28, vs. defending Big West champion Long Beach State, will continue with league matches against UC Riverside (3/1), Cal Poly (3/7) and UC Santa Barbara (3/8). Women's tennis will make the brief trek to Santa Clara on March 14, a rescheduled contest that was originally set for Feb. 7, before wrapping up the regular season in Davis against UC San Diego (3/26), Montana State (3/28), Montana (3/29), Sonoma State (4/3), Hawai'i (4/4) and Cal State Stanislaus (4/11) and UC Santa Cruz (4/18).

Until rain postponed the Aggies' dual against the Broncos, the team would have hosted its final 11 matches of the year at Marya Welch, which would have been a new school record.

A DOZEN YEARS AT INDIAN WELLS
Indian Wells Tennis Garden is hosting the Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Championship for the 12th consecutive year. One of the premier facilities in the United States, also a host of the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells will host all nine women's teams from April 23-26.