San Diego State women’s tennis continued to find success in the SDSU Fall Classic II as three pairs of Aztecs won their semi-final matches while only two players won in singles play on Nov. 9 at the Aztec Tennis Center.
Head coach Peter Mattera was impressed by how his team raised the bar from an already impressive start to the Fall Classic.
“San Diego State raised their level today,” Mattera said. “We picked our offensive moments better today… the level of tennis on all of our courts was higher than it was yesterday.”
In doubles, the Scarlet and Black placed three doubles pairs into championship matches. The Red draw saw the duo of junior Nnena Nadozie and sophomore Alicia Melosch defeat Denver sophomores Tatum Burger and Toni Nelson 6-2 in their semi-final match.
Representing SDSU in the Black draw was sophomore Agustina Rimoldi Godoy and freshman Cécile Morin, who beat out UC Irvine senior Stephanie Nguyen and sophomore Alyssia Fossorier by a score of 6-1.
The White draw saw junior Tamara Arnold and freshman Julia Jordan advance to the championship after defeating Montana junior Bianca Bostrom and freshman Maria Goheen 6-4.
After the match, Arnold said she and Jordan made adjustments halfway through the set.
“We were trying a little too much,” Arnold said. “It took us like five to ten minutes to find our gameplan, but then we stuck to it.”
However, senior Mia Smith and junior Abbie Mulbarger couldn’t make it past the team of Denver juniors Camille Verden-Anderson and Anna Riedmiller as they were defeated 4-6.
Singles play saw multiple matches changed in order to keep teammates from playing against each other, but it didn’t stop the flow of the matches.
Two SDSU players picked up wins in the White draw while Rimoldi Godoy secured a spot in the Black draw consolation championship match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Drake University junior Maria Tatarnikova
Freshman Cecile Morin came out on top against Montana junior Julia Ronney with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 victory.
Nadozie collected another victory as she defeated Stanford sophomore Sarah Choy 7-6, 7-5. It was another big win as, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Associate, Choy is the 87th ranked women’s singles player in the nation.
Mattera said he expected to have three teams play a championship match in doubles but was also happy to see them go so far.
“I think we have known all along that we have eight really good players,” Mattera said. “I think we raised our level and we did more of the things we worked on in practice.”
The three-day Fall Classic II will officially conclude tomorrow on Nov. 10. Doubles play begins at 9 a.m., highlighted by the team of Nadozie/Melosch squaring off with Denver junior Hada Chang and sophomore Taylor Melville for the Black draw championship.
