Doubles First Team Award Highlights CSUN's All-Big West Honors

COMPLETE 2016 ALL-BIG WEST WOMEN'S TENNIS TEAM

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- CSUN women's tennis juniors Kristen Poei and Mickey Hsu earned first team All-Big West honors for the second-straight year to headline three awards for the Matadors in the recently completed 2016 season, the league office announced Wednesday. Hsu also earned second team All-Big West honors for her work in singles play while the doubles tandem of junior Vivian Lin and freshman Skyla Alcon was named honorable mention All-Big West.

"We are extremely proud of all of our All-Big West performers for excelling this season," CSUN head coach Gary Victor said. "All Kristen and Mickey have done since coming in as freshmen is compete for every point in every match. For them to earn consecutive First Team honors speaks to their consistency and teamwork as one of the top doubles tandems in the conference."

Playing entirely at the No. 1 draw, Poei and Hsu finished the year with an 11-10 overall record and a 5-2 mark against Big West Conference opponents. One of their biggest wins of the season came at UC Santa Barbara, where Hsu and Poei toppled a doubles team then ranked 16th in the nation.

For that win, the duo briefly entered the national rankings and added big victories over Western Michigan, LMU, Connecticut, Hawai'i and UC Irvine. The duo now owns a career record of 44-17 (.721) overall and a 16-6 (.727) mark in Big West play to rank among one of the best doubles teams to ever play at CSUN. Hsu and Poei also earned Second Team All-Big West honors as freshmen in 2014.

Hsu earned All-Big West Singles honor for the third-straight year, finishing the year with a 10-12 overall record and a 3-5 mark in Big West play. Playing predominantly at the No. 1 draw for the Matadors, Hsu recorded notable victories over LMU, Santa Clara, Colorado State, Western Michigan and Connecticut. She earned two Big West Player of the Week awards during the season and is now 33-29 in her career in singles play.

"Mickey answered every challenge we presented her with this season. She competed against some of the top players in the Western United States and put together some incredible performances to help lift us to some important victories," Victor added.

Alcon and Lin finished the year with an impressive 11-9 mark for the season and a 4-3 mark against league opposition playing mostly in the second doubles draw. Their biggest win of the year came in the Big West Championship Quarterfinals where the duo scored a 7-6 (9) victory in the No. 2 doubles match against Cal State Fullerton. The duo also posted notable victories over Saint Mary's, UNLV, Western Michigan and UC Santa Barbara.

"Skyla and Vivian really put together a solid season in their first year playing together. They defeated some very good teams this year and their victory in the Big West Quarterfinals propelled us to an upset of a very good Cal State Fullerton team," Victor said.

CSUN finished the year 10-13 overall and 3-5 in the Big West Conference. As the sixth seed in the Big West Championships, the Matadors upset third-seeded Cal State Fullerton 4-3 in a match that lasted over three and a half hours. CSUN also posted impressive victories over LMU, Colorado State, Western Michigan Connecticut and UC Davis. Alcon tied for the team lead with 11 singles wins with junior Mari Taslagyan while sophomore Kiryang Kim finished the year 10-10 overall and 8-2 over her final 10 matches.

Doubles First Team Award Highlights CSUN's All-Big West Honors

Players Mentioned

Skyla Alcon

Mickey Hsu

Kiryang Kim

Vivian Lin

Kristen Poei

Mari Taslagyan

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