BERKELEY, Calif. --  The Gonzaga women's tennis team completed their participation in the Cal Fall Invite earlier today, highlighted by Gonzaga freshman Ella Nielsen's success in the White Main Draw of the singles competition. This weekend's action marks the first of four tournaments the Zags will participate in this fall.
 
Starting with the doubles competition, Gonzaga's Rose Hayes and Nielsen battled, but dropped their match against Saint Mary's Stefanie Silva and Sofia Daryaie by a score of 8-6. Gonzaga's Lia Espinal and Caroline Wernli also fell to Long Beach State's Peppi Ramstedt and Rhona Cook, losing by a score of 8-2. Gonzaga picked up their first victory of the day when Emily Robertson and Kianna Oda clinched an 8-5 win over Santa Clara's Kacey Feng and Varvara-Maryia Zlotnik.
 
Nielsen opened the singles competition by earning an impressive victory in the Semifinals of the White Main Draw, winning by a score of 7-5, 6-1 over San Francisco's Julia Visaya. In the Final, Nielsen fell to Sacramento State's Irene Riva, losing by a score of 6-2, 6-4. Nielsen finishes her excellent performance this weekend as the first Zag since 2019 to make a Main Draw Final at the Cal Fall Invite.
 
Multiple other Zags also found success on the final day of the tournament. Playing against Zlotnik, Wernli earned an impressive 7-6, 7-6 victory in straight sets. Later on, Robertson breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Sacramento State's Madelyn Ferreros. Espinal also earned a 7-5, 6-0 win over Pacific's Leyanne Hirota. Oda earned a comeback victory against Cal Poly's Romane Mosse, winning by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Closing out the additional singles matches was Hayes, who defeated Sacramento State's Weronika Ejsmont by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.
 
Up next:
Today's action concludes Gonzaga's participation in the Cal Fall Invite. The Zags will take the court next at the ITA Regionals, in Stanford, California, on October 12th.
 
Visit the GoZags.com website, and follow the @ZagWTennis account on social media, to stay up-to-date with Gonzaga women's tennis!