SAN DIEGO – San Diego State women’s tennis kicked off day one of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships at the Aztec Tennis Center on Thursday, with four Aztecs combining for eight wins to advance to the main draw.
Vessa Turley, Jayna Clemens, Teja Tirunelveli and Vesa Gjinaj each made it through the qualifying rounds of singles competition with two wins apiece.
Turley earned her first win of the day over UC San Diego’s Carling Allaye-Chan, taking down the Triton 6-2, 6-3. The freshman then defeated Cal Poly’s Alexandra Ozerets 7-5, 2-6, [10-6] in the second round.
Clemens faced Julianna Galindo of UC Riverside in the qualifying round of 64 and posted a 6-3, 6-0 victory before downing Cal State Fullerton’s Chloe Schwarz by a score of 6-2, 6-4.
Tirunelveli cruised into the second round with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 performance over Dana Kunza out of Fullerton. The junior went on to earn a 2-6, 6-0, [10-7] win in a matchup against Long Beach State’s Johanna Hiesmair to claim her spot in the main draw.
Gjinaj took down UC Riverside’s Camille Li 7-5, 6-2 in her first match on Thursday morning. The Aztec then took her second match by a score of 7-5, 3-6, [10-8] over Lily Pradkin of UC Santa Barbara.
The four Aztecs will join teammates Gloria Alogo, Jo-Yee Chan, Ninon Martinache and Liisa Varul in the main draw, beginning on Friday morning. Doubles will get going at 9 a.m. PT, followed by singles at 10 a.m.
Follow along:
Draws/Results
Live Stream
Doubles Round of 64 matchups:
Jayna Clemens/Ninon Martinache (SDSU) vs. Chloe Vu/Julianna Galindo (UCR)
Gloria Alogo/Liisa Varul (SDSU) vs. Jessica MacCallum/Natalie Lynch (Cal Poly)
Teja Tirunelveli/Vesa Gjinaj (SDSU) vs. Zoya Chulak/Maria Garcia (Arizona)
Jo-Yee Chan/Vessa Turley (SDSU) – BYE
Singles Round of 64 matchups:
Vessa Turley (SDSU) vs. Ramey Yu (UCR)
Liisa Varul (SDSU) vs. Emma Tutoveanu (UCSB)
Vesa Gjinaj (SDSU) vs. Jana Hossam Salah (USC)
Jo-Yee Chan (SDSU) vs. Angela Ho (CSUN)
Gloria Alogo (SDSU) vs. Grete Gull (Hawaii)
Ninon Martinache (SDSU) vs. Hams Metwali (GCU)
Teja Tirunelveli (SDSU) vs. Dania Deaifi (GCU)