TURLOCK, Calif. – A new season and a new-look lineup await Stan State women's tennis as the Warriors open the 2026-27 campaign Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3, at the Dominican Hidden Duals in San Rafael.
The two-day event will provide Stan State its first competition of the season with a mix of singles and doubles against familiar PacWest opponents Dominican and Menlo. Matches will be contested at Dominican and the Marin Tennis Club throughout the weekend.
For head coach Verek Visaraga, the opening weekend will provide the first look at a six-player roster featuring four returners and two newcomers.
Senior Abbigail Mulick headlines the returning group after spending much of last season near the top of the Warriors' lineup. Sophomores Katrine Damkjær, Emi Mikami and Alessandra Del Pino Carvajal also return after gaining valuable collegiate experience during Stan State's run to the 2026 PacWest Championships.
The Warriors will also introduce transfers Lisa Lieberman and Nica Sobrapena to the lineup.
Lieberman joins Stan State after spending the 2025-26 academic year at Hawai'i Pacific. The Woodland Hills native went 1-0 in singles for the Sharks, earning a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Chaminade, and posted a 6-5 overall record prior to arriving at Stan State.
Sobrapena brings championship experience from American River College, where she competed for two seasons and helped the Beavers capture the 2025 California Community College Athletic Association state championship. The Sacramento native was also a three-time First Team All-Sierra Foothill League selection at Rocklin High School and won a doubles section championship.
A Familiar Opening Test
Stan State will not have to wait long to see familiar competition.
Friday begins at 10 a.m. with singles against a combination of Menlo and Dominican players before the Warriors meet Dominican in doubles at noon. Stan State returns to singles at 1:30 p.m. against Menlo, with additional competition against Dominican scheduled at the Marin Tennis Club.
Saturday opens with two rounds of doubles. The Warriors will face a Menlo/Dominican combination at 10:15 a.m. before meeting Menlo at 11:30 a.m. The weekend concludes at 1:30 p.m. with singles against Dominican at the Marin Tennis Club, along with additional matches involving a Menlo and Dominican/Stan State combination.
The format gives Visaraga an early opportunity to evaluate a reworked lineup, experiment with doubles combinations and see how Stan State's returning core meshes with its two newcomers.
Dominican and Menlo should provide useful early measuring sticks. Stan State saw both programs repeatedly last season, including during the PacWest Championships. The Warriors closed the 2025-26 campaign with a 4-1 victory over Dominican in the seventh-place match in Surprise, Arizona.
Beginning a New Chapter
The Hidden Duals mark the first competition for a Stan State team replacing seniors Emma Yu and Maiah White, two regular fixtures in last season's singles and doubles lineups.
That creates opportunities throughout a six-player roster in which Mulick is the lone upperclassman returning from last year's team and Damkjær, Mikami and Del Pino Carvajal enter their sophomore seasons with considerably more experience than they had a year ago.
With Lieberman and Sobrapena joining that group, this weekend will offer the first indication of how the pieces could fit together as Stan State begins building toward the spring dual-match season.
Weekend Schedule
Friday, Oct. 2
10 a.m. – Singles vs. Menlo/Dominican combination
12 p.m. – Doubles vs. Dominican
1:30 p.m. – Singles vs. Menlo
1:30 p.m. – Additional singles vs. Dominican at Marin Tennis Club
Saturday, Oct. 3
10:15 a.m. – Doubles vs. Menlo/Dominican combination
11:30 a.m. – Doubles vs. Menlo
1:30 p.m. – Singles vs. Dominican at Marin Tennis Club
1:30 p.m. – Additional singles involving Menlo and Dominican/Stan State combination
