Friday, September 29
Berkeley, Calif.
Long Beach State University
at
Cal Fall Invitational
Photo by: John Fajardo
Beach Tennis Opens The Season At The Cal Fall Tournament
9/28/2023 7:14:00 PM | Women's Tennis
The Beach return seven players from a year ago and welcome just one newcomer to start the 2023-34 campaign
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State Women's Tennis team kicks off the fall season this weekend at the Cal Fall Tournament. The season-opening tournament will run from Friday, Sept. 29 – Sunday, Oct. 1 and will be played at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts.
Matches are set to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday. Beach fans can watch all the action at the Hellman Tennis Complex by clicking HERE. Matches at the Channing Tennis Courts will not be live streamed.
The Cal Fall Invitational features 17 talented teams. In addition to Long Beach State and host Cal, BYU, Cal Poly, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Nevada, Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Jose State, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanford, and Utah will compete.
ABOUT THE BEACH
Long Beach State will host the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament from October 6-8 at the Rhodes Tennis Center in Long Beach, Calif.
Matches are set to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday. Beach fans can watch all the action at the Hellman Tennis Complex by clicking HERE. Matches at the Channing Tennis Courts will not be live streamed.
The Cal Fall Invitational features 17 talented teams. In addition to Long Beach State and host Cal, BYU, Cal Poly, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Nevada, Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Jose State, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanford, and Utah will compete.
ABOUT THE BEACH
- Long Beach State opens the 2023-24 season on the road at the Cal Fall Tournament kicking off Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello's 27th year at the helm.
- The Beach are coming off of a season in which they won 11 matches overall and went 6-3 in Big West action to earn a No. 4 seed in The Big West Tournament.
- This season, LBSU returns seven players including All-Big West selections Justine Dondonay (First Team Doubles), Peppi Ramstedt (Second Team Doubles, Honorable Mention Singles), Rhona Cook (Second Team Doubles, Honorable Mention Singles), and Sarah Medik (Second Team Singles).
- In addition, Long Beach State welcomes Paulina Franco Martinessi. Martinessi is a sophomore transfer from Xavier. She hails from Paraguay where she had an incredible junior career boasting a career-high ITF junior ranking of No. 132 in 2022 when she earned 19 wins and captured eight ITF Titles.
- Dondonay returns to the Beach for her senior year after turning in a successful junior season in which she won 14 singles matches and compiled a 5-1 Big West Singles Record. The product out of Santa Clarita, Calif., played exclusively in the top flight for the Beach a year ago.
- Ramstedt, a junior from Finland, will be back on the court for LBSU after winning 13 singles contests and posting an overall doubles record, while paired with Cook, of 16-5 last season. She excels both on and off the court as she was named to the College Sports Communicator's (CSC) Academic All-District Team.
- Cook is a senior from the UK who won 13 singles contests last year. She teamed up with Ramstedt in doubles action and compiled a 16-5 overall record to go along with an 8-1 Big West mark.
- Medik is a senior who played primarily at the top singles flight and won 15 matches. Last year, she opened the season with four-straight wins to lead the Beach.
- Sophomore Doga Akyurek returns to the Beach after turning in a solid rookie season. The Izmir, Turkey native won 11 matches in singles and six in doubles. She kicked off her collegiate career winning the LBSU Fall Invitational in her respective singles bracket with a victory over CSUN's Sofia Dermenjyan, 6-3, 6-2.
- Hana Becirovic Novak comes back to the court for her sophomore campaign at Long Beach State. A year ago as a true freshman, Becirovic Novak earned 10 singles victories and eight doubles wins, while playing with Mathilde Tranberg. The duo went on a run during conference action winning three-straight matches over CSUN, UC Irvine, and Cal State Fullerton.
- Tranberg is a senior from Denmark, who won 17 singles contests, while earning eight doubles victories while playing alongside Becirovic Novak.
- Live stats for all regular season Long Beach State home matches will be available via BeachLiveStats.com
- Follow Long Beach State Women's Tennis on Instagram and Twitter at @LBSUTennis. Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics via Twitter. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LBSU.
- The traditional player cheer pre-match and each time the team wins a match point is "Here We Go Beach!" All Beach fans are encouraged to follow the team's cheer with their own "Here We Go Beach!"
Long Beach State will host the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament from October 6-8 at the Rhodes Tennis Center in Long Beach, Calif.
Players Mentioned
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