Match 22
No. 4 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 5 CSUN
Date: Friday, April 28
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Indian Wells, Calif.
Venue: Indian Wells Tennis Garden
Series Record: CSUN leads 17-3 (dating back to 2000)
FULLERTON, Calif. --- Cal State Fullerton enters the 2017 Big West Women's Tennis Championship as the No. 4 seed, and will play fifth-seed CSUN at 11 a.m., Friday, in quarterfinal action at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, Calif.
The contest is a rematch from 2016, as the No. 3 Titans suffered a 4-3 loss to the No. 6 Matadors in the quarterfinal.
The University of Hawai'i enters the championship as the No. 1 seed after winning its first ever Big West regular season title outright, going undefeated at 8-0 in conference.
With a win on Friday in the quarterfinal, Fullerton would advance to play the winner of No. 1 Hawai'i vs. No. 8 UC Irvine/No. 9 UC Riverside at 9 a.m. on Saturday in the semifinal.
CSF IN THE RANKINGS: Team: None | Singles: None | Doubles: No. 58 Camille De Leon/Alexis Valenzuela
CSUN IN THE RANKINGS: Team: None | Singles: None | Doubles: None
BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
- The Titans' No. 4 seed at the Big West Championship is the second-highest ever for the program. Previously, Cal State Fullerton was the No. 3 seed in 2016.
- Fullerton holds an overall record of 17-38 dating back to 1989 at the Big West Championships.
- In quarterfinal action, the Titans hold a record of 0-16, never advancing to the semifinals.
- The Titans and Matadors have played each other twice at the Big West Tennis Championship, with CSUN (9) defeating Fullerton (8), 5-2, in the first round in 2004, and the No. 6 Matadors scoring the 4-3 upset win over the No. 3 Titans just a year ago.
- Fullerton is 1-1 all-time against the No. 5 seed at the Big West Championship.
- The Titans' best finish at the Big West Championship was in 1998, when Fullerton lost to UC Irvine in the fifth-place match.
- Dating back to 1989 when the Big West Tournament was seeded, the lowest seed to win the championship was No. 7 Pacific in 2000.
- Long Beach State has won the tournament on 12 occasions dating back to its first title in 2002 entering as the No. 2 seed. The 49ers have won the championship seven times as the No. 1 seed. Current conference members UC Irvine (1), Cal Poly (1) and UC Santa Barbara (7) are the only additional programs to have won the tournament.
- Indian Wells Tennis Garden is hosting the Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Championship for the 14th consecutive year.
NEWS & NOTES
- The latest Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Women's Doubles Rankings were released on Tuesday, and Camille De Leon and Alexis Valenzuela were ranked at No. 58.
- With a 4-3 victory over San Jose State on April 19, the Titans won their 18th match of the season, setting a new program record for single-season victories. The previous record was 17 wins in 2016.
- The Titans boasted a program-record 11-match win streak to start the season from Jan. 21 – March 5, the longest for the program on record dating back to 1981.
- The No. 1 doubles team of Camille De Leon and Alexis Valenzuela has totaled 16 doubles wins, the most for a Titan No. 1 doubles team since the pair won 14 No. 1 doubles matches together in 2016.
NUMBERS
- Fullerton has won the doubles points in 19 matches this season, not suffering its first doubles loss until Sunday vs. Hawai'i.
- Cal State Fullerton has its best record (18-3) and most victories in program history.
- Senior Alexis Valenzuela has won her last five matches to improve to 14-1 in 2017, and her career mark is now 54-15 in dual match singles play.
- Fellow senior Camille De Leon is 11-4 in singles action, and boasts a career singles mark of 53-29 at Fullerton.
- As a group, the Titans' singles record is 72-30 (.706) in 2017, and Fullerton's doubles record is 41-10 (.804).
- Junior Danielle Pham is 12-6 on the season, while sophomores Karla Portalatin (12-7) and Sarah Nuno (12-5) are also having successful years. Fellow sophomore Masako Makiba is 11-7.
- In doubles play, the team of Nuno and Portalatin (17-2) had won 14 in a row until a loss to the Rainbow Wahine on Sunday, while the team of De Leon and Valenzuela (16-2) had won 13 straight matches until Sunday's loss.
OPPONENTS
CSUN (9-11, 3-5 BWC) enters the tournament with an experienced senior class of Mickey Hsu, Kristen Poei, Vivian Lin and Samantha Judan. Hsu and Poei have more wins as a doubles team (50) than any team in school history and are two-time First Team All-Big West doubles honorees. Poei has enjoyed a stellar senior season in which she leads the team with 11 singles wins.
AWARD SEASON
Senior Alexis Valenzuela has been voted the Big West Conference Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week five times during her career and two times in 2017.
Most recently the West Covina, Calif., native earned the honor on March 8 after going 2-0 in singles action and 2-0 in doubles play in wins against UC Irvine (5-2) and Seton Hall (6-1).
In addition, she earned the honor on Feb. 1 after posting three singles victories as the Titans swept UC San Diego, the No. 13-ranked team in Division II, as well as San Diego State (4-0) and San Diego (4-3) on the road in the second week of the season.
Cal State Fullerton sophomore Sarah Nuno went a combined 3-0 in singles and doubles play to earn the Big West Conference Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week award, it was announced by the league on Feb. 8.
Nuno overcame a first set loss to Joselyn Treyes Albar, but rebounded to win the match against her Dons counterpart, prevailing 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-3.
Against Santa Clara, she blanked Zeina El Tawil, 6-0, 6-0. She helped the Titans capture the doubles point with Portalatin, as the duo took care of El Tawil and Nabila Farah, 6-2.
The athlete of the week award was the first for Nuno during her Titan career.
SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitans.com/Tickets. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (@FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans), and Instagram (@FullertonTitans) and Snapchat (FullertonTitans). In addition, the women's tennis team has established its own official Twitter page (@CSUFTennis), Facebook Page (@CSFWomensTennis), Instagram (@CSUFTennis) and Snapchat (CSUFTennis)