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Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Tennis begins fall season at UNLV Invitational
9/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 22, 2011
Long Beach, Calif. - Long Beach State women's tennis begins the 2011-12 season this weekend when the 49ers travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to participate in the UNLV Invitational beginning on Friday, September 23.
The fall season for women's tennis is comprised primarily of invitational tournaments, where teams, while traveling together and representing their schools, don't participate as a group but instead as individuals and doubles pairs.
Rankings for overall teams will not be released until the conclusion of the fall tournaments, but based on last season's final rankings, the 49ers were the highest ranked of the seven teams participating in the UNLV invitational at No. 36.
The field will be very competitive, however, with host UNLV finishing last season ranked No. 38, and participants Ole Miss ranked No. 40 and Utah ranked No. 49 at the end of the 2011 season. Filling out the field will be Northern Arizona, Florida Gulf Coast, and New Mexico State.
Long Beach State returns nearly the whole roster from last season, returning six members from that squad, including two singles All-Big West selections in senior Anais Dallara and junior Klaudia Malenovska. Malenovska has merited a #109 singles ranking to begin the year, while Dallara, who finished last season 6-1 in Big West conference play, returns at the top of the lineup and received an invitation to the prestigious ITA All-American tournament.
In addition to that pair, the 49ers welcome back four other upperclassman in seniors Rachel Manasse and Julie Luzar, and juniors Sarah Cantlay and Anna Jeczmionka. Manasse enters her senior season after posting a 17-4 record in dual matches, while Cantlay had the team's second-best overall singles record in 2011, going 26-12 in singles and combining with Luzar to go 22-11 as the doubles team with the most wins last year. Jeczmionka also returns with a wealth of experience, now entering her third year with the program after going 14-12 in singles last season.
The 49ers also welcome to highly regarded recruits in Laura Bernard and Karolina Rozenberg to fill out the roster. Bernard was ranked as high as #284 in the world junior rankings, while Rozenberg also ranked highly at #360. Both will be counted on early to make an impact in the lineup.
The first chance will come this weekend for Bernard as the freshman, along with Dallara and Manasse, will compete in the top flight of singles at the UNLV Invitational. Dallara is the No. 4 seed in the flight, behind three ranked individuals in Mississsippi's Caroline Rohde-Moe (#75) and UNLV's Lucia Batta (#95) and Aleksandra Josifoska (#117).
Jeczmionka and Cantlay will compete in the second flight of singles, while Rozenberg will debut in the third flight. Malenovska will continue to rehab an injury through the fall, while Luzar will also be missing this first tournament.
In doubles, the 49ers will have an opportunity to win all three flights, as a pair will play in each of the top three flights. Dallara and Bernard will play in flight one, while Manasse and Cantlay will start as the top seed in flight two, while Jeczmionka and Rozenberg will play together in flight three.
Players Mentioned
