The Big West Women's Tennis Notebook: Five Teams Unbeaten in Conference Play Heading into March

2023 Big West Women's Tennis Schedule | Standings | March Notes (.pdf)

 Tidbits
Nine conference matches have already been played heading into March.

CSUN and Long Beach State lead the pack with 2-0 records. The Matadors defeated Cal Poly (4-3) and UC Riverside (7-0). The Beach downed UC Riverside (4-0) and UC San Diego (6-1).

Cal State Fullerton, Hawai’i and UC Santa Barbara all have one conference win under their belt. The Titans topped UC San Diego (5-2), the Rainbow Wahine triumphed over UC Riverside (7-0) and the Gauchos bested UC Davis (5-2).

UC San Diego’s first win came against UC Davis. The Aggies got their first victory against UC Irvine.

11 Conference matches line the slate in March.

Check bigwest.org/calendar.aspx or school-specific websites for the most up-to-date schedule information for all Big West sports.

 Big West in the ITA Rankings
Two Big West individuals are listed in the latest ITA rankings released on Feb. 21. In singles, UC Santa Barbara’s Amelia Honer is ranked 67th and Ana Vilcek of Hawai’i is slotted in the 80th spot.

Honer’s name comes up twice in doubles rankings. The team of Honer and Kira Reuter are ranked 13th. The pair of Honer and Filippa Bruu-Syversen are 49th.

Click here to view the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. 

 CSUN’s Zhytelna Wins CalHope Award
CSUN sophomore Yuliia Zhytelna was selected as one of the January recipients of the CalHOPE Courage Award. The monthly CalHOPE Courage Award honors California college and university student-athletes who have overcome the stress, anxiety, and mental trauma associated with personal hardships and adversity.

Born in Kyiv, Yuliia began playing tennis at age seven and seriously started at age 10. With the encouragement of her coach and mother, she would skip school to practice more extended hours and travel to tournaments. However, the pressure of tennis being so much of her life and only perfection being acceptable made her realize that she needed a change. She accepted a scholarship from CSUN without informing her parents or coach. Three years later, this is still a sensitive issue with her coach.
          
Her transition to America was challenging as she arrived during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to redshirt her freshman season allowed her to adjust to her new life and get her tennis game back on track. However, in February 2022, as she started to feel comfortable, the Russian invasion of Ukraine turned her life upside-down again.

Yuliia chose to take time away from the team to deal with the tragedy back home and focus her efforts on helping raise awareness about the plight of Ukraine and to support her family. The fact that her CSUN doubles partner and best friend, Ekaterina Repina, was Russian attracted news media interest. A journalism major, Yuliia worked with one of her professors to organize a vigil to help educate fellow students about the situation in Ukraine. She was also able to help her family in Kyiv by connecting them with the family of CSUN teammate Magdalena Hedzrak, whose family in Poland was able to provide them with housing after they emigrated to that country.

After getting back on the court with a grueling workout regimen over the summer, Yuliia played in all five fall tournaments for the Matadors, compiling an 8-6 singles record and a 7-4 doubles mark. She is projected to be in the top six in singles for CSUN and part of the top three doubles team.

 2022 Rewind
In the 2022 Big West Women's Tennis Championship, top-seeded UC Santa Barbara won its fourth title in the last six tries, and 10th overall, defeating No. 2 seed Cal Poly 4-1 in the title match.

With The Big West’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship, UC Santa Barbara drew No. 26 Kansas. Down 3-0, the Gauchos reverse swept the Jayhawks for a 4-3 win to advance to the second round. UCSB fell to Stanford 4-0 to bow out of the NCAA Championship.

However, the year wasn’t quite over for 2022 Big West Player of the Year Shakhnoza Khatamova. The senior earned a place in the singles draw and fought hard before ultimately falling in the first round to No. 6 seed Sarah Hamner of South Carolina.
 
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 About The Big West
The Big West is an NCAA Division I member with 11 member-institutions with the shared goal of empowering every student-athlete in competition and in life and uniting its university communities through championship experiences. Formed in 1969, The Big West membership consists of Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Hawai‘i, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.  

The Big West is united in the pursuit of boundless opportunities, enduring integrity, bold activism, fearless innovation and the Pacific spirit of freedom, exploration and progress. The Big West sponsors 18 sports at the NCAA Division I level: baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s volleyball, women’s beach volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field and women’s water polo, with men’s water polo set to become the 19th conference-sponsored sport in 2023-24.

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