Tarleton State Tennis travels to New York for Fordham Four Invite this weekend

BRONX, N.Y. - Tarleton State Women's Tennis team is on the road this weekend to compete in their third tournament of the fall season, heading to Fordham in Bronx, New York, for the Fordham Four invite.

Matches will be played on Friday through Sunday at the Hawthorn/Rooney Tennis Courts.

Tarleton State is coming off two strong showings at tournaments, most recently at the ACU Invite in which they picked up 18 wins. Sophomore Marissa Minetti and freshman Nuria Lafitte-Valls captured the Flight B doubles draw by winning three matches. Minetti/Lafitte-Valls beat duos from ACU before defeating Polina Sleptsova/Raegan Farm from Texas Tech 6-4 in the finals.

Sophomore Aya Ishii, junior Mario Castano, and freshmen Anna Huisgen and Erika Abraham-Nilsen each won two matches. They fell in the semifinals in their respective draws.

Ishii defeated Charlotte Roesch from Texas 7-5, 6-4, and Diani Kaibara from UT Arlington. Castano defeated Natalie Stasny from SMU in a tiebreak 6-3,4-6 [11-9] before beating UTA's Sofia Selle 6-4, 6-3. Huisgen picked up wins over SMU's Stasny and ACU's Victoria Correa, while Abraham-Nilsen defeated a pair of ACU opponents, Che Nei and Zara Zafiovska.

The tournament will pit the Texans up against Fordham, St. John's, and Columbia University. It will be the Texans first outing against each of the three teams. This tournament will be the furthest trip the Texans will make this season.

For St. John's, the Fordham Four Invite marks the team's second tournament of the season after competing in the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational, where Cho Younsoo turned in a strong performance by advancing to the semifinals of the Flight B singles draw. In the 2025-26 season, the Red Storm went 16-6, and advanced to the semifinals of the Big East Championship before falling short to DePaul.

Columbia enters the Fordham Four Invite with plenty of momentum after dominating its home tournament, winning 25 of 30 matches. The Lions are coming off an impressive 2025-26 campaign in which they finished 15-5, and 5-2 in Ivy League play.

For Fordham, this home tournament will be their season's debut. Last season they finished 15-10, and advanced to the finals of the Atlantic Ten Championship before falling to VCU 4-3.

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Players Mentioned

Aya Ishii: Freshman

Marissa Minetti: Freshman

Anna Huisgen: 5' 2"; Freshman

Erika Abraham-Nilsen: 5' 8"; Freshman

Nuria Lafitte-Valls: 5' 3"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Aya Ishii
: Freshman

Marissa Minetti
: Freshman

Anna Huisgen
: 5' 2"; Freshman

Erika Abraham-Nilsen
: 5' 8"; Freshman

Nuria Lafitte-Valls
: 5' 3"; Freshman