SAN DIEGO – San Diego State women’s tennis is set for its first road contest of the dual season, traveling to Berkeley, Calif. for back-to-back matches on Friday and Saturday as part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Hosted at 14 different sites across the country, the winner of each four-team regional event will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, which will take place February 7-11.
The Aztecs will first take on No. 17 Oklahoma on Friday at 2 p.m. PT following a matchup between No. 14 California and Grand Canyon. The winning teams will compete for a bid to the Indoor Championships on Saturday at 1 p.m. A consolation match will take place earlier that morning at 10 a.m.
The Sooners head into the Kickoff Weekend ranked 17th in the nation. They are 2-0 with wins over Wichita State (4-0) and Wyoming (7-0), and currently have four players in the top 70 of the ITA singles rankings. Julia Garcia Ruiz leads the team at No. 14, followed by No. 43 Alina Shcherbinina, No. 66 Emma Staker and No. 68 Ava Catanzarite.
“Oklahoma is a very good team and will be a good test for us,” said Head Coach Peter Mattera. “We’re going to have to keep our focus and intensity from first ball to last ball. That’s something that as a team we can do better. Usually with match number two, you take a leap forward, and I’m hoping that’s the case for us. I’m excited to see how we match up against a team like that.”
The Aztecs started the spring 1-0 after defeating Point Loma Nazarene 6-1 in their home opener on January 18.
Junior transfer Jo-Yee Chan made her Aztec dual debut on the top court and took down Point Loma’s Arianna Audelo 6-0, 7-5. Paired up with Zoe Olmos, the duo picked up a 6-3 win over Alina Kupfer and Melissa Zirkle in doubles.
Olmos clinched the match on court four, cruising to a 6-1, 6-4 win in her matchup against Emely Valencia.
Playing on the second court, Ninon Martinache defeated Kupfer by a score of 7-5, 6-1. Martinache also clinched the doubles point for the Aztecs alongside Vesa Gjinaj. The pair put the first point on the board with a 6-2 win over Anna Pallencaoe and Emely Valencia on court two.
Gjinaj added another singles victory, taking her match against Zirkle by a score of 6-1, 3-6, [10-2].
In her first collegiate dual match, freshman Liisa Varul earned the Aztecs’ first singles point with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 performance against Pallencaoe on the third court.
Following their trip to Berkeley, the Aztecs will return to San Diego for a three-match home stand, starting on Feb. 8 at noon against Baylor.