UC Irvine Women’s Tennis welcomed two new players to their team this 2026-27 school year: Rachel Gee and Montana Parkinson. Gee committed to UC Irvine and signed to play tennis on the UCI Women’s Tennis team as a senior in high school on Nov. 17. Then on August 27, UC Irvine Women’s Tennis announced that their newest transfer, Parkinson, would be joining UCI as a junior after attending New Mexico State University for two years.
Parkinson attended Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, Calif. and during her time there won the East Bay Athletic League singles title all four years. During her junior and senior fall seasons, she also won the North Coast Section (NCS) championship singles. She reached a U.S. Tennis Association ranking of No. 114 in high school, and as a four-star recruit ranked No. 109 nationally in her 2024 class.
For her last two tennis seasons, Parkinson has been attending New Mexico State University. In her freshman year, she competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association quarterfinals, and she played No. 3-6 in singles and regularly played No. 2 in doubles. She posted a record 12-5 in singles competition and was 11-3 in doubles.
In her sophomore year, Parkinson won three fall tournaments. She won the John Messick Invitational as the Draw D Champion, the Abilene Christian University (ACU) Invite as the Flight E Champion and the Aggie Invitational as the Flight B Champion. She finished the season with a 22-4 singles record, and she earned the Conference USA All-Academic Team honors. She was named an ITA Mountain Region player to watch, and she competed at Nos. 2-4 in singles and, again, No. 2 in doubles.
Head coach Elizabeth Ferris welcomed Parkinson to the team, telling UCI Athletics in an interview, “[Parkinson] was a strong junior player that went on to work her way up the lineup at New Mexico State and be a player that her teammates could rely on to get the tough win. Her fighting spirit and ability to win multiple ways will fit right into what we are building here.”
In a separate UCI Athletics’ press release, Ferris also welcomed Gee to the team. “Rachel has a large and diverse collection of tools making her a very effective, intelligent, tough and fun player to watch. Her all court game along with her outgoing personality and high level academics will allow her to fit right in and have success straight away. The coaching staff and team will be excited to welcome her next fall!”
Gee attended Evergreen High School in San Jose, Calif. and is a four-star recruit on TennisRecruiting. She had a 8.84 singles grade and a 8.19 doubles grade on the Ultimate Tennis Rating system. She will also be joining the Anteaters in the fall of 2026.
Both recruits are promising new team members, with Parkinson’s singles records and titles won, and Gee’s ratings from her high school career. This year’s UCI Women’s Tennis roster has officially been released, as well as the schedule, so we can look forward to an exciting season.
Milo Cramer is a Sports Staff Writer for the summer 2026 quarter. They can be reached at mncramer@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores.
Milo Cramer is a drama major, literary journalism minor at UC Irvine. He's a sports staff writer for New University, and he hopes to pursue writing as a career on the side of acting in live theatre.