UCI Women’s Volleyball Opens Friday at Home

UC Irvine’s women’s volleyball team, hoping to rebound from a worst-ever 6-22 record last year, will open the season against Auburn at 7 p.m. Friday in the ninth annual Anteater Invitational.

Irvine, 1-9 against nonconference opponents last season, will return three players who earned All-Big West honors. Senior Popi Edwards was an all-conference, first-team selection last year. Sophomores Meredith Fletcher and Amy Pimentel were on the all-freshman team.

“We had a total of five years of Division I experience on the whole squad last year,” Anteater Coach Mike Puritz said. “We’re still young, but we’ve got a year under our belt.”