UC Irvine’s Women’s Tennis team (1-3) claimed their first victory of the season against Santa Clara University (1-3) in a game at the Degheri Tennis Center on Feb. 7. They defeated the Broncos 4-3 in an amazing comeback after experiencing two prior difficult games to the University of Houston and the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Anteaters maintained positive attitudes out on the courts and supported each other well. By carefully examining their opponents game styles and choices, the Anteaters were able to get themselves ahead of the game. With a very close score, the Anteaters were able to pull themselves to the top, earning them their first victory of the season.
Senior Haily Huynh and sophomore Yen Nhi Huynh played a doubles match against graduate Lizanna Boyer and senior Daniella Dimitrova. The court two doubles played a strong match, but Anteaters were defeated with a score of 6–3, securing a doubles point for Santa Clara.
After dropping the court two doubles to Santa Clara, senior Amanda Perez and senior Carolyna Fowler secured a 6-4 win, which quickly shifted the focus onto court three.
Played by junior Quin Brady and sophomore Maily Huynh, the two clinched the point in a tense 7-5 victory, when Brady made a poach to win the match’s final set.
The singles matches started off intense for the Anteaters, as the Broncos had three consecutive singles victories by players Dimitrova, Boyer, and sophomore Anna Rahman. Santa Clara was only one point away from securing the team win for the singles.
However, an intense rally occurred on court six where Maily Huynh came back from a set down to defeat Broncos sophomore Juliette Krumholz 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 cutting into the Broncos lead, with a score of 3-2. The initial sets were dropped by Maily Huynh and Fowler, but both took the next recorded victories in their singles matches.
Fowler completed her own resilient comeback on court three, losing the first set but dominating the next two to beat senior Tian Yu Dong 7-5, 6-2, 6-1, knotting the teams at 3-all.
The match was a thrilling one, and it all came down to the last point that was secured by junior Bella Pitchford playing against Broncos redshirt freshman Ashley Katz on court five. Despite the tough match, Pitchford played strongly, going 7-6, 6-4. Then the match was extended when Katz scored a point and pushed their set to a deuce sudden death. Pitchford hit an inside forehand shot to clinch the match and won the first team victory of the season.
The Anteaters went on the road to take on Big West rival UC Davis on Feb. 8 and lost with an overall score of 4-3. Next the Anteaters head back to Orange County to face Chapman University on Feb. 12.
Melissa Hernandez is a Sports Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at melih12@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Geneses Navarro.
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