Jan. 4, 2017
Tempe, Ariz.----- One San Jose State University women's tennis singles player and one doubles pair are nationally-ranked in the first Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings for the 2017 dual-match season.
Junior Sybille Gauvain of Frejus, France, is ranked 96th in singles and the doubles tandem of freshman Tamara Culibrk of Laurel, Md., and sophomore Miyo Kobayashi from Bangkok, Thaliand are ranked 41st in doubles.
Gauvain, the Spartans' number-one singles player, was 9-3 in fall tournament action. She was 1-1 against top-100 players in the fall with her win over then #62-ranked Denise Starr of California at the ITA Regional Championships hosted by Stanford in last October.
Gauvain became the first San Jose State singles player to advance to the semifinals of the championship bracket of an ITA Regional at Stanford by defeating three seeded players before losing to ITA #17-ranked Karla Popovic of California, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Culibrk and Kobayashi were 7-1 in tournament action last fall. The pair won their flight at the Gopher Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in September and reached the championship bracket semifinals at the Stanford ITA Regional. Their only loss was to Stanford's Caroline Lampi and Kimberly Yee, 6-4, 6-1.
Culibrk and Kobayashi are the only doubles pair from a Mountain West school in the current national rankings. Gauvain is one of five conference singles players in the ITA rankings.
"Congratulations to the three players who are in the first ITA national rankings. Sybille, Miyo and Tamara all had a breakout tournament at the ITA Regional in October," said San Jose State women's tennis head coach Chad Skorupka.
San Jose State opens its dual match season, Saturday, January 22, at Florida Atlantic University.