Sept. 22, 2016
Minneapolis, Minn.----- Opening Day was a very good day for the San Jose State University women's tennis team. With two new doubles pairs, the Spartans won five out of six matches against Big Ten Conference opponents at the Gopher Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Baseline Tennis Center.
Head coach Chad Skorupka matched his two seniors, Marie Klocker and Gaelle Rey, with two freshmen, Tamara Culibrk and Diane Flament, with positive results.
Klocker and Culibrk won their two matches by identical scores of 7-6 with a 7-3 tiebreaker against a pair of University of Minnesota teams.
Rey and Flament defeated Montana Crawford and Taylor Tamblyn of Iowa, 6-4, but lost to Caroline Ryba and Karyna Bihel of Minnesota, 6-3, in second round action.
Junior Sybille Gauvain and sophomore Miyo Kobayashi joined Klocker and Culibrk in the quarterfinals with wins over Minnesota's Maja Vujic and Camila Vargas Gomez, 6-3, and Golden Gophers' Cammy Frei and Mehvish Safdar, 6-2.
"Today was a very good start with our doubles play against some good Big 10 schools," the Spartans' head coach said. "All three doubles team competed very strong and I wanted to see the seniors work with the freshmen."
"We're looking forward to singles play tomorrow with the schedule calling for two doubles and two singles matches. It will be a very long day that will test us mentally and physically."
The Spartan doubles pairs of Klocker and Culibrk and Gauvain and Kobayashi will face each in one of the three quarterfinal round matches on September 24 guaranteeing one San Jose State tandem in the semifinals.
Gopher Invitational women's tennis tournament
Baseline Tennis Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
September 22, 2016
| First round doubles |
| Marie Klocker & Tamara Culibrk (SJSU) def. Elise Van Heuvelen & Zoe Douglas (Iowa), 7-6 (7-3 tiebreaker). |
| Sybille Gauvain & Miyo Kobayashi (SJSU) def. Maja Vujic & Camila Vargas Gomez (Minnesota), 6-3. |
| Gaelle Rey & Diane Flament (SJSU) def. Montana Crawford & Taylor Tamblyn (Iowa), 6-4. |
| Second round doubles |
| Marie Klocker & Tamara Culibrk (SJSU) def. Tina Kreinis & AnneMarie Emme (Minnesota), 7-6 (7-3 tiebreaker). |
| Sybille Gauvain & Miyo Kobayashi (SJSU) def. Cammy Frei & Mehvish Safdar (Minnesota), 6-2. |
| Caroline Ryba & Karyna Bihel (Minnesota) def. Gaelle Rey & Diane Flament (SJSU), 6-3. |