Women's tennis resumes competition at home with beach tennis winter invitational

LONG BEACH, California. After the winter break, Long Beach State will host their second tournament, the Beach Tennis Winter Invitation, in preparation for the upcoming spring dual match season. All eight players for Long Beach State will be in action as Long Beach State welcomes Portland, Miami of Ohio and CSUN to the Rhodes Tennis Center for three days of action.

The tournament format will consist of a round robin of singles and doubles matches. Each team faces a different side every day, with action starting at 11am on Friday and Saturday, before kicking off at 10am on Sunday. Since this is a preliminary tournament, each team has the opportunity to change the lineup for the next day if desired.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Friday, January 17, 11 a.m
Doubles Long Beach State vs. CSUN | Portland vs. Miami (OH)
Singles – Long Beach State vs. Miami (OH) | CSUN vs. Portland

Saturday, January 18, 11 a.m
Doubles Long Beach State vs. Portland | CSUN vs. Miami (OH)
Singles Long Beach State vs. CSUN | Portland vs. Miami (OH)

Sunday January 19th 10am
Doubles Long Beach State vs. Miami (OH) | Portland vs. CSUN
Singles Long Beach State vs. Portland | CSUN vs. Miami (OH)

A TEAM, COMPLETE

Long Beach State has added another player to its young roster as incoming freshmen Johanna Hiesmair joined the program that started for the spring semester. Hiesmair comes to the beach from Austria and rounds out the selection of eight players.

Long Beach State maintains an international flavor in the international city of Long Beach, as all eight members of the team come from different countries and three separate continents. The global influence of tennis, representing Austria, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom, has come to meet and compete together in Long Beach.

The Beach features seven freshmen and one returning player, a junior Paulina Franco Martinessi.

AUTUMN REVIEW

Every player on the roster had strong moments during the fall as the team worked together after first coming together for the league in October. Diana DeSimone had 10 singles victories in three competitions, paving the way for Long Beach State, but nearly every Roaster player was .500 or better in the fall as the team went 42-34 overall in tournament competition. In doubles, Cecilia Costa and Paulina Franco combined for a strong start, going 5-3 on aggregate Daria Malaescu And Diana DeSimone combined for an impeccable 3-0 record in the fall.

VEGAS BABY
Daria Malaescu highlighted the UNLV Fall Tournament for Long Beach State. The Romanian freshman did not compete in the ITA Southwest Regional, but returned in a big way for the fall final tournament, where she went 6-0 and won her flight in both singles and doubles. Compete with Diana DeSimone in doubles, the pair were undefeated in the fall after a 3-0 win in Las Vegas.

ITA SOUTHWEST REGIONAL

Coupled with some of the best competition in the region, with spots for the individual NCAA championships on the line, Long Beach State had some strong performances in San Diego at the ITA Southwest Regionals.

Freshmen Diana DeSimone won a pair of singles qualifying matches to advance to the main draw of 64 while a freshman Cecilia Costa was placed directly into the main draw based on her previous performances. The pair faced off against ranked opponents and were eliminated, although sixth seed De Simone pushed Emilija Tverijonaite of Arizona State to the limit in a three-set defeat, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Costa, along with Long Beach State's only upperclassman Paulina Franco Martinessi also combined for a run in doubles. The duo defeated Julia Haynes and Naomi Nguyen of UC San Diego 8-5 in their first match and also won 8-5 against Castillo/Narendran of Arizona to advance to the Round of 16, where they ultimately won 8-6 were defeated in an exciting match. to end their time in the main event.

BEACH TENNIS AUTUMN TOURNAMENT

Featuring a new format, the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament featured nine of the 10 Big West programs competing in a full main draw in both singles and doubles over four action-packed days at the Rhodes Tennis Center.

Long Beach State saw six of its incoming freshmen make their collegiate debuts Paulina Franco Martinessi. Overall, the team recorded a combined record of 19–13 in singles, while going 6–6 in doubles, with all three teams playing together for the first time in the competition.

LEGEND OF THE LONG BEACH

Long Beach State head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello is in her 28th year at the helm of the Beach Tennis program. She has an overall record of 413-196, which equates to an impressive winning percentage of .678. Hilt-Costello, the winningest coach in beach tennis history, holds LBSU tennis coaching records in single-season wins (22), career wins (401) and highest winning percentage (.680). Under her leadership, Long Beach State has recorded more overall wins and more conference wins than any other program in the Big West.

Hilt-Costello has been named The Big West Coach of the Year a league record nine times (2001, 2004-06, 2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019). In 2004, she was named West Region Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year award. Hilt-Costello announced in January that the 2024-2025 season would be her final season at Long Beach State.

RHODES TENNIS CENTER

The Terry L. Rhodes Tennis Center is home to the nationally recognized Long Beach State Tennis Program.

The 12-court complex, which opened in the fall of 2008, has a unique design with four playing courts divided by a 12-meter-wide public concourse. Bleachers have been installed on four of the six varsity courts for spectator seating. All six are illuminated.

Two gifts from Long Beach State alumni resulted in the construction of the on-campus tennis complex for the Beach Tennis team. Terry Rhodes, a 1962 graduate, generously donated $1.25 million dollars to improve the new tennis complex and provide multiple tennis scholarships for women.

The Beach also plays in front of a large electronic scoreboard, thanks to a generous gift from the Hendricks family. It was dedicated in memory of former LBSU women's tennis coach Gloria Hendricks and her husband, Bob. The family also includes former Long Beach State tennis player Cindy (Hendricks) Robbins, her husband Les Robbins, both 1974 alums, and brother John Hendricks. The 12-meter high scoreboard displays match scores on all six competition fields via wireless control.

STAY SOCIAL

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TENNIS TRADITION

The traditional cheer before the match and every time the team wins a match point is “Here We Go Beach!” All beach fans are encouraged to follow the team's cheers with their own “Here We Go Beach!”

NEXT

The dual match season officially begins on Saturday, January 25, when Long Beach State takes on Seattle U of Eugene, Oregon, before facing the Ducks on the road the following day on Sunday, January 26.