The women’s tennis team will attempt to hold its 20-match home winning streak as they face UMass in the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in their spring home opener today. Play will continue on Saturday against Memphis.

“Playing at home is electric,” Silia DeFilippis ’11 said. “It’s always enjoyable to play at home in front of our fans.”

Last weekend, the No. 44 ranked Elis faced No. 1 Duke and No. 39 Wake Forest. The Bulldogs lost 7–0 against reigning National Champions Duke, but defeated Wake 6–1 in the second day of the tournament.

Prior to last weekend’s mixed results, the team defeated both Boston College and Boston University.

“UMass and Memphis will be aiming to take us down so we’re all excited to compete hard and defend our home courts,” DeFilippis said.

As far as the competition goes, this will be UMass’s first match of the spring season. The Memphis Tigers will enter the weekend 3–4 overall after defeating the Kennesaw State Owls last weekend.

The Friday’s event will also serve as the season kickoff for the Blue Aces, the team’s fan club. Members of the club will be allowed to play on the Yale courts through 10 p.m. Rackets are not provided and non-marking shoes are required. The club is free to join at the match or atyaleblueaces.com. Members will receive pizza after the doubles competition.

“As the president of Blue Aces, I’ve been working with the girls on the team and our coaches to make watching and supporting tennis as enjoyable for fans as competing is for us,” DiFilippo said.

Most of all, players are excited about the home-turf advantage.

“When you spend as many hours as we do there, it becomes your second home,” DeFilippis said of the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. “When you get the chance to compete on those courts, you really feel like you’re defending your own house.”

Play begins tonight at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m.