LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 17 UC San Diego women's tennis team begins a stretch of five non-conference matches on Wednesday when the Tritons play host to Western New Mexico at 1 p.m.

Although the upcoming opponents hail from outside the California Collegiate Athletic Association, each represents an important matchup with Division II West Region implications. On Saturday, UCSD (5-2) will host No. 41 Hawaii Hilo before embarking on a trip to Hawaii after next week's final exams. The island trip features matches with No. 3 BYU-Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific and a rematch with UHH.

Wednesday's opponent, WNMU, has gone 2-3 through the early going of the 2010 season. Unranked in the region, the Mustangs posted both of this year's wins by 5-4 scores. Leading WNMU in the singles ladder is sophomore Nikolina Vukadin, a Bosnia and Herzegovina native.

The Tritons' top singles player, junior Taskeen Bains, broke out of a four-match losing streak with an impressive win over Villanova's Carla Erskine last week, 7-5, 6-1. UCSD topped the Division I Wildcats in convincing fashion, 8-1.

The Tritons' next league match will come March 31 on the road against Cal Poly Pomona. UCSD owns a conference winning streak of 63 contests.