Women's tennis heads to San Diego State Invitational
11/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
This Week: Air Force closes out the fall season by traveling to San Diego, Calif., to complete in the San Diego State Invitational Nov. 7-9.
Last Week: Chloe Forlini finished second in singles and paired with Carley Hatcliff to win the consolation championship in their flight to pace the Falcons on the final day of the North Texas Invitational in Denton, Texas, on Sunday. The Falcons' performance was also highlighted by winning three of four doubles matches on the day. Forlini fell in the singles final to Valenzuela of North Texas in a hard-fought 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) match. She finished 2-1 in singles in the tournament to improve to 10-3 overall on the season. In doubles, she and Hatcliff held off Lorca and Quevedo of Stephen F. Austin, 8-6, to finish 2-1 in the tournament. They are now 4-2 overall in doubles on the season. Lily Forlini picked up one of three singles wins for the Falcons, defeating Leiu of NCTC, 6-1, 6-1. Marcelli Magday beat Acota of SFA, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to pick up the other singles win. Other doubles winners on the day were Tracy Landram and Mary Meyers, who defeated Galieva and Shestakova of North Texas, 8-6, and Natasha Rizvi and Jocello Rudico, who beat Acota and Maxi of SFA, 8-6. Lily Forlini and Tran lost to Bardabush and Thoma of North Texas, 8-6, in the other doubles matches. In other singles action, Landram fell to Cordero of North Texas, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (9) while Rudico was beaten by Birowski of Texas-Arlington, 6-4, 6-2. Hatcliff was beaten by Lorca of SFA, 6-3, 6-1, Rizvi fell to Gordo of SFA, 6-4, 6-4, Meyers fell to Bardabush of North Texas, 6-3, 6-2 and Tran fell to Aiello of Colorado, 6-3, 6-1 to round out singles play on the day.
Head Coach Kim Gidley: Kim Gidley enters her 17th season as head coach of the women's tennis team at the Air Force Academy in 2014-15. The first civilian head coach in the 37-year history of the program, Gidley became the winningest coach in the history of the program in 2003 with her 76th victory. She recorded her 100th career victory during the 2005-06 season against South Dakota State and her 200th against Seattle University last season. She enters the `14-15 campaign with a 212-215 career record. Gidley led the Falcons to a 17-9 record last season, the first time since moving to Division I in 1996 that the team has had five straight winning seasons. Gidley belongs to several professional tennis organizations, including the United States Professional Tennis Association. She has been honored twice by the USPTA as the Intermountain College Coach of the Year, most recently in March 2008. Among her other awards, she received the USTA/ITA National Community Outreach Award for 2009 as well as USAFA's Instructor of the Semester for lifetime sports.
