Ni Xi Makes Program History With NCAA Championship Qualification; Niners Strong at UNF Invite

SAN DIEGO, CA — Sophomore Ni Xi continues to raise the bar for Charlotte Women's Tennis, becoming the first player in program history to qualify for the NCAA Individual Singles Championship.

The tournament will take place Nov. 18–23 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

Xi earned her spot at the ITA Conference Masters Championships in San Diego by capturing the American Conference Individual Singles Championship earlier this fall. At the ITA Masters, she opened with a 6‑4, 6‑1 win over North Florida's Laurie Barendse, then defeated Old Dominion's Victoria Matasova 6‑1, 6‑4 in the Round of 16. She clinched her NCAA berth with a 6‑4, 7‑5 quarterfinal win over Arizona State's Vivian Ovrootsky before falling 6‑4, 7‑5 to Georgia's Aysegul Mert, who entered the event ranked No. 28 in the ITA Preseason National Rankings.

"We're so proud of Ni for making history as the first player to ever qualify for the NCAA Singles Championships," head coach Anthony Davison said. "She deserves this due to her professionalism and growth over the past year — she's always had ball striking ability, but she's improved her toughness and thoughtfulness in critical moments, and it's paying off."

"She's extremely excited to compete in Orlando for the Niners."

Niners Show Strength at UNF Invite Charlotte's players had a strong showing at the UNF Fall Invite. Sara Suchankova capped off an impressive run in Singles Flight A, defeating Maryland's Magdalena Baniak 6-2, 6-4 in the final after earlier victories over Louisville and Texas Tech.

In Singles Flight D, Lucia Aranda advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 win over Florida State's Abby Kelliher. She fell in a marathon three-set match to South Florida.

Paula Dougherty had a strong tournament in Singles Flight E, recording wins over South Florida's Kelly Vargas Gonzalez 6-1, 6-2 and North Florida's Jasmin Makela 6-3, 6-4.

On the doubles side, the team of Andrea Chacon and Shona Nakano picked up a win in Doubles Flight 1 over Texas Tech.

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