Women's Tennis Opens Fall Season At Campbell Invite

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After the first two tournaments of the fall season were canceled, the ECU women's tennis team will finally take the court this weekend at the Campbell Fall Invitational.

ECU is coming off a 2018 spring season in which the Pirates went 17-9. That is tied for the fifth-most wins in a season in program history and is the second time in three seasons ECU has won 17 matches. It was also the third consecutive winning season for ECU, the longest such streak since seven straight winning seasons between 2005 and 2011.

ECU returns eight players from last season, including five players who won at least 11 matches last year, and adds two highly rated newcomers. The top returner for ECU is Celia Ruiz, who went 15-3 last spring and 21-4 overall and was an All-American Athletic Conference selection for the third consecutive season. Ruiz enters the season ranked No. 50 in the International Tennis Association's (ITA) singles rankings.

Joining Ruiz in wining at least ten matches last spring were Hsia Ho Chiao (11-9), Alisa Diercksen (13-10), Lisa Hofbauer (14-6) and Nastja Rettich (13-7) and all four return this season. Also returning for ECU is Sofia Anthony, Victoria Dixon and Annija Veinsteina.

In doubles, Hofbauer and Ruiz led the team with an 8-5 record last year and are ranked No. 43 in the ITA doubles poll. Chiao and Rettich combined to go 9-9 last year as well.

Joining the program this season are Martina Paladini-Jennings and Minette Van Vreden. Paladini-Jennings comes from Ruislip, England, where she represented Middlesex on the English national team since the age of 15. She was ranked among the top 50 players in England and the top 20 in the 18 and under age group. Van Vreden hails from Strand, South Africa and was the 2017 South African Nationals Champion (U18). Most recently, Van Vreden represented South Africa in the Fed Cup, the world cup of tennis.

The Campbell Fall Invitational is the first of seven tournaments for ECU this fall. The tournament will begin with singles matches at 9:00 a.m., on Friday morning and will run through Saturday afternoon.

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Players Mentioned

Sofia Anthony

Alisa Diercksen

Victoria Dixon

Lisa Hofbauer

Ho Chiao Hsia

Martina Paladini-Jennings

Nastja Rettich

Celia Ruiz

Minette Van Vreden

Annija Veinsteina

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