UCI club tennis team advances to nationals

CARSON — The UC Irvine co-ed club tennis team advanced to the United States Tennis Assn. Campus Championship Southern California title match on Feb. 23, before falling to defending champion UCLA at the Home Depot Center.

UC Irvine advances to the Tennis on Campus National Collegiate Championships, to be held beginning April 17 in Cary, N.C.

UCI, making only its second appearance in the sectional championship, edged USC in the semifinals in a super-tiebreaker. UC Irvine then split the men’s and women’s doubles matches with UCLA, but the UCLA team won both the singles matches to capture the victory.

Tennis on Campus is a student-run club program that enables former high school players to play in a competitive environment, competing against other regional schools. The USTA Campus Championships are the culmination of the Tennis On Campus season, which features co-ed teams participating in intramural and intercollegiate play at nearly 500 colleges and universities nationwide.

In advancing to the national championships, UC Irvine is one of the top 64 teams. UC Irvine and UCLA will be joined by 37 other USTA Campus Championship place-winners, as well as 25 other teams entering the tournament through an at-large selection process.

This year’s fifth annual USTA Campus Championship Southern California Section Championship drew 12 teams from eight colleges and universities.

— From staff reports