FULLERTON, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton women's tennis team begins its season on Wednesday, hosting UC San Diego at 1:30 p.m. at Titan Tennis Courts. Fullerton will then travel to San Diego State and San Diego over the weekend to conclude its first week of action for the 2016 season.
UC San Diego: Wednesday, Jan. 20 | 1:30 p.m. | Titan Tennis Courts (Fullerton, Calif.)
San Diego State: Saturday, Jan. 23 | 4:00 p.m. | Aztec Tennis Center (San Diego, Calif.)
San Diego: Sunday, Jan. 24 | 11:00 a.m. | Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center (San Diego, Calif.)
CSF IN THE RANKINGS: Team: None | Singles: None | Doubles: None
UCSD IN THE RANKINGS: Team: No. 18 (Div. II) | Singles: No. 28 Kyra Scott (Div. II) | Doubles: No. 16 Britta Mosser/Scott (Div. II)
SDSU IN THE RANKINGS: Team: None | Singles: No. 50 Tamitha Nguyen | Doubles: None
USD IN THE RANKINGS: Team: None | Singles: None | Doubles: None
The Titans return to the court for the 2016 season with three returners and just two upperclassmen as junior Alexis Valenzuela and Camille De Leon are prepared to lead the Titans along with sophomore Danielle Pham.
Valenzuela, a two-time Big West Conference First Team selection, has amassed a career record of 23-10 (.697) in dual singles action as well as a mark of 29-16 (.644) in dual doubles play. In two seasons, De Leon has a record of 25-19 (.568) in dual singles play as well as a mark of 21-21 (.500) in dual doubles action. She has been named to the Big West Doubles Second Team twice (2014, 2015), and following her sophomore campaign, received honorable mention accolades in singles play.
Pham boasts a winning record of 6-4 from the fall after a 7-13 dual singles mark during her freshman season, which saw her play at the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 positions.
Joining the returning trio for the 2016 season include redshirt freshman Isabel Donaldson, as well as the rookie quartet of Carolen Fararji, Masako Makiba, Sarah Nuno and Karla Portalatin. During the fall, the four freshmen combined for a record of 11-20.
FALL 2015
Cal State Fullerton competed in four fall events as junior Alexis Valenzuela (4-2) and sophomore Danielle Pham (6-4) each posted winning records. Freshman Sarah Nuno finished her first collegiate competition at 5-5. The Titans completed singles action at 27-34, and found success on the doubles courts with a 19-15 overall record. Valenzuela teamed with fellow junior Camille De Leon as the pair managed a 5-2 mark.
2015 SEASON RECAP
The Titans finished the 2015 season with an overall record of 10-12 as well as a 2-6 mark in Big West Conference action. For the second straight year at least three Titans earned all-league honors as Alexis Valenzuela, Camille De Leon and Megan Sandford received Big West Conference Women's Tennis honors.
Valenzuela, the Titans No. 1 player for the majority of 2015, was named to the Big West All-Conference First Team for the second consecutive season after completing her sophomore campaign with a dual singles record of 8-6 at the top of the lineup.
De Leon was named Big West Honorable Mention in singles action for the first time in her career. She completed the year with a dual singles record of 12-9 as she finished 2015 with a record of 3-3 at the top of the lineup and a record of 9-6 at No. 2. In addition, De Leon completed Big West dual singles competition at 5-3. In addition, for the second straight year, the La Mirada, Calif., native received Big West Conference Second Team doubles honors as De Leon and senior Megan Sandford earned the accolade. The team of De Leon and Sandford managed an 11-10 dual record at the No. 1 spot as well as a winning record of 5-3 in league play.
SEASON OPENERS
Dating back to 1981, Cal State Fullerton boasts a record of 8-24 in season openers (records are missing for 1983, 1997 and 2000). The Titans are 5-10 at home in season openers and 3-14 on the road. A year ago, Fullerton opened the season at home with a 4-3 victory over Nevada.
OPPONENT NEWS & NOTES
UC San Diego is currently rated 18th in the country by the 2015-16 Oracle/ITA Collegiate NCAA Women's Tennis Division II Rankings. The Tritons concluded the 2015 season with a 12-13 record as one of those losses was to Cal State Fullerton, 5-2, on Jan. 21, 2015. Dating back to 2004, the Titans boast an 8-0 record against UCSD.
San Diego State is currently unranked as a team, but singles player Tamitha Nguyen is ranked 50th in the country by the 2015-16 Oracle/ITA Collegiate NCAA Women's Tennis Division I Singles Rankings. Dating back to 2005, the Titans are winless in 11 tries against the Aztecs. SDSU defeated Fullerton, 6-1, in San Diego on Jan. 24, 2015 as the Aztecs went on to a 13-11 record on the year with Nguyen boasting an 18-6 dual match mark.
San Diego is currently unranked as a team, as the Toreros enter 2016 following a record of 4-15 in 2015. Fullerton suffered a 6-1 loss to USD on Jan. 25, 2015, and the Titans are winless in nine attempts against San Diego dating back to 2006.
