2017 CSUN Women's Tennis Season Preview

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- The CSUN women's tennis team will look to rely upon an upperclassmen-laden roster as the Matadors enter the 2017 season. Seniors Kristen Poei, Mickey Hsu and Vivian Lin hope to close out their Matador career with a strong season against a slate of tough opponents both out of conference and in the Big West.

The schedule is full of challenges for the Matadors. Before setting out on the season, CSUN participated in the Long Beach State Winter Invitational on Jan. 21. Inclement weather limited the competition to a single day, but CSUN still managed some impressive results. The Matadors won two of three doubles matches with Texas-San Antonio and split eight singles matches with Utah State. The Matadors and Aggies also split four doubles matches and two doubles contests with Long Beach State.

CSUN officially opens the season on the road at LMU on Jan. 26 and and at UC Riverside on Jan. 28 and then hosts Westmont on Jan. 30 in its home opener. The Matadors then hit the road for three matches in Honolulu, including contests with San Diego and the Rainbow Wahine and a scrimmage against Hawai'i-Pacific.

In the month of March, CSUN hosts several big matches at Matador Tennis Complex. The following teams will all come to the San Fernando Valley for competition: New Mexico, South Dakota State, Marquette, Texas State and Princeton. CSUN will also head to Knollwood Country Club to take on Harvard in the month.

The month of March concludes with a trip to New York where the Matadors will face NYU and Hofstra. CSUN then closes out the season with Big West home matches against UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton.

Poei, Hsu and Lin have enjoyed outstanding careers on the court and have been recognize multiple times by the Big West coaches. Hsu has earned All-Big West honors for her work in singles play, including a First Team award as a sophomore. She carries a career record of 33-29 in singles action into the year.

In doubles play, Hsu and Poei have joined forces to become the most-winning doubles team in CSUN program history. The duo has received back-to-back First Team honors and carries a 44-17 record as a tandem. In singles play, Poei is 34-21 over her first three seasons and sports a 9-6 mark against league opponents over the last two seasons.

Lin has earned All-Big West honors in doubles play following after each of her first three seasons as a Matador. What's more incredible is that she has done so with a different teammate each year. Last year, she and Skyla Alcon earned All-Big West Honorable Mention after posting an 11-9 overall record and a 4-3 mark against conference foes.

The team's only junior is Kiryang Kim, a two-year letterwinner from Seoul, South Korea. She ended 2016 on a tear, finishing 8-2 over her last 10 singles matches and concluding the year with a three-match winning streak. She finished the year 10-10 overall in singles action and teamed with Mari Taslagyan to go 10-6 doubles play.

Alcon returns to CSUN after a sensational rookie campaign. In addition to earning Honorable Mention All-Big West honors for her work in doubles with Lin, she led the Matadors with 11 singles victories in 2016. She went 4-4 in singles against league foes and she and Lin won the clinching point in CSUN's Big West Tournament victory over Cal State Fullerton.

Victor and assistant coach James Ciuffo have brought in three newcomers looking to crack the line-up in 2017. Sophomore Elisa Elhadj and freshmen Emma Roenholt and Mari Udagawa all join the Matadors with ample potential.

In the fall of 2016, Elhadj reached the Round of 16 in her first time at the ITA Southwest Regional, defeating opponents from Long Beach State, Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara in singles competition.

Originally from Switzerland, Elhadj made an instant impression on her regional rivals with her strong weekend. She defeated LBSU's Lena Pacholski 7-5 and 6-2 in the opening round and then rallied from a set down to topple Laura Gulbe, the No. 8 seed from Pepperdine, 1-6, 6-2 and 6-4.

From there, she then defeated Natalie DaSilveira in three sets in the round of 32, yet again overcoming a first-set loss to win 6-7, 7-5 and 6-4. Ultimately, she fell to Zoe Katz of USC in the Quarterfinals to end her run in the event.

Later in the fall at CSUN's home invitational, Roenholt, won her singles flight with a great showing. She defeated an opponent from Cal State Fullerton (6-1, 7-6) and then needed three sets to defeat an opponent from Utah State (2-6, 6-4, 6-3) in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals of the draw, she defeated another Utah State opponent (6-3, 6-4) and then defeated a rival from Cal State Fullerton (6-3, 6-2) in the flight championship.

Udagawa spent last year at Murray State in Kentucky. She also competed well throughout the fall season and gives CSUN solid depth with Taslagyan using a redshirt this season. Scout Shutter will also miss the season due to injury.

Also returning to the squad is Arpe Bagumyan, Samantha Judan and Elisaveta Nosenko. All will be looking to crack the line-up for Victor and the Matadors.

2017 CSUN Women's Tennis Season Preview

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Players Mentioned

Skyla Alcon

Arpe Bagumyan

Elisa Elhadj

Mickey Hsu

Samantha Judan

Kiryang Kim

Vivian Lin

Elisaveta Nosenko

Kristen Poei

Emma Roenholt

Scout Shutter

Mari Taslagyan