GABRIEL ROMERO / CONTRIBUTOR

The   reigning WCC regular season champions and by season-end ranked No. 39 USD women’s tennis team had a series of competitions stretching from September to November in preparation for season play, starting in the spring. With contests differentiating from singles, doubles and team play, the Toreros contended against some of the best in the nation.

  Kicking off the fall season, USD junior  Charlotte  Keitel  represented USD playing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships. After playing in the pre-qualifiers with Kansas State last year,  where she won accolades such as Big 12 All-Freshman Team and multiple Academic All-Big 12 Team, Keitel  ultimately fell in the first round of qualifiers 3-6, 6-7 (1-7) to Stanford’s Tianmei Wang.

  Playing on their home courts for the first time this season, the Toreros made their presence known at the USTA SoCal Women’s  Tennis  Championships.  All singles players won their opening-round matches and the team advanced to the semifinals in both the singles and doubles competitions.   Several Toreros even made their USD debuts, including USD first-years Vilma Krebs-Hyllested and Maria Shmakova who both made it past the first round. Krebs-Hyllested made it all the way to the quarterfinals individually — even winning the rounds of 64 and 16 in straight sets. When paired with USD sophomore  Hannah Read, the duo battled through to the semifinal after gritty 6-2 and 7-5 results. 

  Read, who is the defending WCC Freshman of the Year, continued her own personal tear, as she made it all the way through to the semifinals with a tournament record of 3-1, winning her first two matchups via straight sets. USD sophomore Anni Puls also battled for wins in the first two rounds of the singles draw before being eliminated.

  Staying in America’s finest city, the Toreros commanded competition in the fifth annual San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic, dropping only two total points over the weekend in a competition that featured Navy —  a 5-0 sweep of Fresno State and conference opponent LMU. 

  San  Diego showcased its teamwork, playing to a perfect 6-0 in doubles play on the weekend, with Puls and Shmakova pairing, along with USD junior Kristina Nordikyan and Krebs-Hyllested. In the singles draw, Puls battled through a three-set duel that helped secure San Diego’s 4-1 win over Navy. Against Fresno State, Shmakova and Krebs-Hyllested shined, opening with 6-0 “bagel” sets — a tennis term for shutouts in which the opponent fails to win a game before closing out both matches in straight sets. The long weekend proved the team’s endurance, as Shmakova and Puls each pulled out tiebreak wins on the final day of play.

    Heading  into   the   ITA   Southwest Regionals, the Toreros posted  a perfect 6-0 mark in singles,  qualifying with five of those   wins  coming in  straight  sets.

   In  the first round of main-draw play, Keitel cruised through her opener, taking the first set 6-2 before  closing with a 6-0 bagel in the   second.  USD sophomore Gabby Gregg won three  straight  matches  in her first appearance of the fall, advancing to the round of 32. Read went the deepest for the Toreros, earning back-to-back straight-set victories to reach the round of 16.

   At      the   Thunderbird    Invitational over Halloween weekend, San Diego’s doubles teams proved downright frightening for opponents. The pairing of Krebs-Hyllested and Nordikyan led the charge, sweeping all three of their matches — persevering with a pair of 7-5 wins over duos from SMU and ASU before closing with a 6-3 victory against UCSB. 

  On the final day of play, the Toreros’ doubles lineup went undefeated behind strong performances from Gregg and Keitel, who rolled 6-1, and Read and Shmakova, who followed with a 6-4 win. The Toreros collected seven doubles victories, with four players also picking up at least one singles win.

   Closing out the fall season, Keitel and Read traveled to Seattle to represent San Diego at the ITA West Sectional Championships. Reflecting on the conclusion of the fall slate, Keitel commented on what makes USD women’s tennis an exciting watch.

   “A good atmosphere outside the court and bringing it inside the court, so I feel it is more investing when you know that we are all super into it,” Keitel said. “We know we have each other’s back and we are also fighters so it is always entertaining to watch.” 

  In the team’s biggest individual test this fall, Keitel opened main-draw play against  the tournament’s  No. 1  seed — UCLA’s Mayu Crossley. After dropping a tight first set 4-6, Keitel responded with a dominant 6-1 second  set before ultimately falling in the third to Crossley —who went on to finish the event undefeated. Read also drew a tough first round opponent in UCLA’s Kate Fakih, the tournament’s No. 6 seed, pushing the first set to a tiebreak before falling in two sets. Keitel rebounded  in the consolation draw,  advancing   to   the  semifinals.   

      She  rolled   through   her    opening match 6-1, 6-2 and followed winning in the quarterfinals in straight sets with a pair of 6-3 against Stanford’s Tianmei Wang, avenging her previous loss to her in the first round of ITA All-American Qualifying.

  After a fall filled with breakout performances, the Toreros turn their  attention to the spring, where regular season matches begin in early January. With the schedule set to be released in the coming weeks, San Diego carries strong  momentum and confidence as they aim to defend their WCC regular-season title and build on the foundation laid this fall.

USD first-year Vilma Krebs-Hyllested played at the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic. Photo courtesy of @usdwtennis/Instagram