Valeria Salazar

/ Tennis

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

Valeria Salazar

Height:
5-4
Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
Cresskill, N.J.

Junior Year (2015-16): Partnered with Gabriela Knutson to become the first pair since 1996 to be invited to the NCAA doubles championships ... Paired with Gabriela Knutson to defeat Stephanie Wagner and Wendy Zhang of Miami 7-6 (7-0) in the ACC Tournament (4/22) … Defeated NC State’s Joanna Nalborska 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 in the ACC Tournament (4/21) … Won against Virginia Tech’s Elena Cerezo-Codina 7-5, 6-2 … Defeated Francesca Fusinato and Kelly Williford in doubles 6-4 with partner Gabriela Knutson (4/17) … Defeated Ariana Rodriguez of Louisville 6-2, 6-3 … Defeated Louisville’s Ariana Rodriguez and Sena Suswam in doubles 6-2 with Gabriela Knutson (4/10) … Continued her success by defeating Lolade Ogungbesan of Pitt 6-3, 6-3 … Defeated Lolade Ogungbesan and Audrey Ann Blakely of Pitt 6-1 with partner Gabriela Knutson (4/8) … Won against Florida State’s Yukako Noi 6-3, 6-4 … Partnered with Gabriela Knutson to defeat Yukako Noi and Daneika Borthwick of Florida State 6-3 (4/3) … Won against Wake Forest’s Emma Davis 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-2 … Defeated Wake Forest’s Kimmy Guerin and Anna Ulyashchenko with partner Gabriela Knutson 6-3 (4/1) … Paired with Gabriela Knutson to defeat Martina Frantova and Tayla Stenta of NC State 6-4 (3/6) … Defeated Beatrice Capra and Ellyse Hamlin of Duke 7-5 with partner Gabriela Knutson (3/4) … With partner Gabriela Knutson defeated Quinn Gleason and Monica Robinson of Notre Dame 6-4 (2/28) … Won against Virginia’s Stephanie Nauta and Victoria Olivarez 6-1 with doubles partner Gabriela Knutson (2/21) … Defeated Boston College’s Katya Vasilyev 6-1, 6-3 … Paired with Gabriela Knutson to defeat Boston College’s Lexi Borr and Jackie Urbinati 6-3 (2/20) … Won against Anna Morozova of St. John’s 6-2, 6-4 … Partnered with Olivia Messineo to defeat St. John’s Anna Morozova and Jaide Collins 7-5 (2/14) … Defeated Yale’s Tina Jiang and Madeleine Hamilton 6-1 with partner Gabriela Knutson (2/12) … Defeated Kyla Klier of Tulane 6-1, 6-1 (2/6) … Earned victory over Cornell’s Dena Tanenbaum 7-6 (7-5), 4-4, retired … Defeated Dena Tanenbaum and Alexandra D’Ascenzo of Cornell 7-5 with partner Anna Shkudun (1/31) … Won against Columbia’s Rima Asatrian 6-3, 6-2 … Defeated Rima Asatrian and Alexandra Soloyev of Columbia 6-3 with partner Anna Shkudun (1/29)

Sophomore Year (2014-15): Defeated NC State's Nicole Martinez in singles play 6-4, 6-4 (4/17) ... Won singles match against Xue Zhang of Wake Forest 6-4, 6-2. Tied in tight doubles match with partner Komal Safdar against Kasey Gardiner and Kimmy Guerin when match was halted (4/11) ... Lead in third set of singles match against Elle Stokes of Louisville when match was halted. Defeated Ariana Rodriguez and Elle Stokes in doubles play with partner Komal Safdar 8-6 (3/27) ... With partner Komal Safdar, defeated Annie Mulholland and Samantha Harris 8-5 of Duke in doubles play (3/8) ... Won doubles match with Komal Safdar over University of Pittsburg tandem Katherine Castro and Lolade Ogungbesan (8-2). Continued her success against Ogungbesan in singles winning 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 (3/1) ... Dominated in doubles play with partner Komal Safdar against Notre Dame duo Allison Miller and Julie Vrabel 8-5. Won her match over Monica Robinson when Robinson retired after the first set 6-1 (2/27) ... Took on nationally ranked No. 22 Virginia tandem Mercer and Skyler Morton with Komal Safdar, trailed 5-7 when it was halted. Defeated by No. 30 Stephanie Nauta 6-3, 6-3 (2/21) ... Won her match with Komal Safdar against BU's Asiya Dair and Jennifer Ren 7-6, defeated by Lexi Borr in singles play 6-3, 7-6 (2/14) ... With partner Komal Safdar, beat Kirsten Scott and Chassidy King of Albany 6-3. Won her match against Ana Glumac 6-4, 6-3 (2/7) … Took the match against Lizzie Stewart of Cornell 6-1, 6-1. Defeated Marika Cusick and Alex D’Ascenzo 7-6 (4-0) in doubles with Komal Safdar (1/31) … Took on Alabama duo Danielle Spielmann and Emily Zabor with Komal Safdar in doubles play, trailed 4-3 at the time in which their match was halted. Defeated by Spielmann 6-2, 6-2 in singles (1/24) … Won doubles match with Komal Safdar to beat USF’s Alicia Robinson and Hailey Grillo 6-2. Fell to Olga Martinez 3-6, 1-6 in her singles match (1/10) … Defeated FGCU’s Breana Stampfi 6-2, 6-4 and won her doubles match with partner Komal Safdar over Stampfi and Johanna Sterkel 6-4 to complete her first competition of the spring (1/8) ... At the West Point Invite won the doubles flight with senior Komal Safdar. Salazar also won five single matches while only dropping two sets ... At the ITA Northeast Regional beat tandems from Stony Brook [8-2], Harvard [8-3] and Princeton [8-3] before falling to Boston College [8-2] in the quarterfinals alongside Komal Safdar ... At the Houston Classic, Salazar and Komal Safdar went undefeated and earned flight championships. Salazar didn't drop a set all weekend as she defeated Ksenia Pronina of Iowa State (6-1, 7-6 (4)) on Friday, Zita Engbroks of Oklahoma (6-2,6-2) on Saturday and swept the weekend with her 7-5, 6-4 win over SMU's Dasha Sharapova on Sunday ... At the Harvard Invitational, beat Harvard duo Jang-Milsten/Li with partner Komal Safdar ... Defeated Amanda Muliawan of Princeton (6-4, 3-6, 7-6, (7-5))

Freshman Year (2014): After having a bye at the ITA Northeast Regional, went on to beat Columbia's Adi Milstein in straight sets and Nikki Kallenberg of Harvard ... Match-by-match results
Achieved a doubles ranking of No. 72 with partner Maddie Kobelt on April 15 ... Duo moved up to No. 45 on April 22 ... In the season opener at South Florida, held off Olaya Garrido-Rivas 6-0, 3-6, (10-3) in fourth singles and won at first doubles with Maddie Kobelt against Kayla Rizzolo and Loreto Alonso-Martinez .... Along with partner Maddie Kobelt, outlasted Elisha Hande and Nicole Martinez in first doubles at NC State, 8-5 ... Teamed up with Maddie Kobelt at first doubles to kock off Virginia Tech's Francesca Fisonato and Raluca Mita, 8-7 (9-7) ... Netted a 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 triumph over Kristina Schlech of Florida State at fourth singles and paired with Maddie Kobelt for an 8-5 win over Kerrie Cartwright and Daneika Borthwick on court one ... Defeated Jennifer Ren of Boston College 6-4, 6-1 at fourth singles ... Partnered with Maddie Kobelt to defeat Jessica Wacnik and Lexi Borr of Boston College 8-7 (7-4) at the first spot ... Took down Pittsburgh's Kimmy Borza 7-5, 6-4 at the fourth spot ... Won 7-5, 7-5 over Welma Luus of Maryland on the fourth court... Against No. 15 Clemson, teamed up with Maddie Kobelt to upset #12 Yana Koroleva and Beatrice Gumulya 8-2 in first doubles ... In fourth singles, defeated Samantha Asch 6-0, 6-0 and partnered with Maddie Kobelt at first doubles to beat Xue Zhang and Kasey Gardiner, 8-6 versus Wake Forest ... Against Notre Dame, defeated Monica Robinson 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 at fourth singles and teamed up with Maddie Kobelt at first doubles to upset #10 Quinn Gleason and Britney Sanders ... In the ACC Tournament, downed Daniela Schippers, 6-2, 6-4 at fourth singles.

Prior to SU: National Champion for 10U, 12U and 14U in Mexico ... Singles and doubles 14U champion at the JITIC (International Games for Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean) ... Represented Mexico with ITF team in South America ... Member of the ITF team that represented Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean in the European Summer Cup ... Three-time ITF doubles champion (Jamica, Mexico, Tampico) ... ITF singles champion (Guadalajaya) ... Three-time ITF doubles finalist (Barbados, Dominican Republic, Bahamas) ... ITF singles finalist (Bahamas) ... Two-time ITF singles semi-finalist (Curaco, Jamica) ... Reached 197th in the ITF rankings.

Personal: Valeria Salazar Garza ... Born April, 1995 in Monterrey, Mexico ... Daughter of Saul Salazar and Lourdes Garza ... Has one brother, Santiago ... Majoring in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences.