SAN JOSE, Calif.— The San José State women's tennis team opens its 2026-27 season this weekend, kicking off the fall schedule at the USD USTA Invite in San Diego.
Everyone from last season's squad returns to San José State. The Spartans add two new faces to the roster and expand their fall slate with two additional invitationals compared to a year ago.
San José State also welcomes new assistant coach Fatima Gutierrez. A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Gutierrez spent two seasons at Purdue and reached a national ITA singles ranking of No. 98 in February 2025 after posting 43 combined wins over two years at UTSA. Before her collegiate career, she represented Mexico in World Cup Qualifying in 2018 and 2019 and reached No. 6 in the Mexico National Women’s rankings.
Leading the returners is Duru Durgun, now in her fourth season with the program. Durgun went 14-12 in singles play from the No. 1 spot last season and earned All-Mountain West Singles Team honors. For her career, she owns a 44-33 record in singles play.
Emma Fantousis also returns after a breakout 2025-26 campaign, going 17-11 in overall singles play. In dual matches, she posted an 8-6 record at No. 3 singles and went 3-1 at No. 2.
San José State bolsters its roster with two additions: junior Emilija Pranyte, a transfer from Sacramento State from Vilnius, Lithuania, and graduate student Nitika Girish, an Austin, Texas, native who previously played at the University of the Incarnate Word and Monmouth.
Pranyte helped lead Sacramento State to back-to-back Big Sky Conference Tournament titles and a runner-up finish in the regular-season standings during the 2024-25 season. That year, she also advanced out of qualifying at regionals before falling to the nation's No. 54-ranked player. In 2025-26, she was ranked No. 10 in the final ITA Northwest Region doubles rankings, and she earned All-Big Sky Conference Second Team Doubles honors in 2024-25 and All-Big Sky Conference Honorable Mention Doubles the following season.
Girish began her career at Incarnate Word in 2022-23, going 7-5 in singles and 9-3 in doubles, before transferring to Monmouth for the 2023-24 season.
With a full returning crew now paired with the experience Pranyte and Girish bring from their previous programs, the Spartans enter the season with more depth and roster continuity than in previous seasons.
Pranyte, Fantousis, Soledad Fayos Capilla and Camila Celis will represent the Spartans at the USD USTA Invite, running Thursday, Sept. 24 through Sunday, Sept. 27, in San Diego.
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