Cal Poly Women's Tennis Receives Bid to Inaugural NIT Championship
5/10/2023 2:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The season isn't over yet for the Cal Poly women's tennis program. The Mustangs are gearing up for some postseason play after being selected to participate in the first ever Universal Tennis NIT Championship on May 17-20 at the Peachtree City Tennis Center near Atlanta, Ga.
Cal Poly was one of just eight teams chosen to compete in the inaugural NIT Championship. The Mustangs join Appalachian State, Colorado, CSUN, Stetson, TCU, UC San Diego and Wyoming in the eight-team tournament. All the matches will be streamed live on Amazon Prime Video.
Cal Poly will face No. 2 seed Colorado in a quarterfinal match at 3 p.m. EST next Wednesday.
The Mustangs are fresh off an impressive showing at the Big West Championships in San Diego on April 27-29. Cal Poly swept UC Davis in the quarterfinals and CSUN in the semifinals 4-0 to secure its third straight trip to the Big West Championship match — a program first. The Mustangs fell to top-seeded Hawai'i 4-2 in the finals, but couldn't have finished the season much stronger winning 13 of their last 17 matches.
Last Thursday, five Mustangs received All-Big West honors. Kim Bhunu was named to the First Team in singles and Second Team in doubles alongside playing partner Kennedy Buntrock. Cal Poly's No. 1 doubles team, made up of Delanie Dunkle and Peyton Dunkle, was also selected Second Team All-Conference. Peyton earned Honorable Mention praise in singles as well.
Alexandra Ozerets grabbed an Honorable Mention selection in singles and became the second player in program history to be named the Big West Freshman of the Year to round out the conference accolades for the Mustangs.
This will mark the first time since 2011 that Cal Poly has competed in postseason play as a team.
The teams selected to participate in the inaugural NIT Championship were chosen by a committee, with team's "Universal Tennis Rating Power 6 ranking among the top criteria for consideration."
Players Mentioned
