Alexa Palen

Class:
Senior
High School:
Lourdes
Hometown:
Rochester, Minn.

2011-12 ? JUNIOR SEASON: Went 18-12 in singles and 18-16 in doubles ? Won two of three singles matches at Wilson/ITA Central Regional Championships in Tulsa, Okla. (10/20-24) ? Won 12 consecutive matches from 1/27 to 3/24, including tiebreaker wins over Samantha Smith of No. 28 Washington and North Carolina State's No. 52 ranked Joelle Kissell ? Ranked as high as No. 105 national singles athlete ? Ended the season ranked No. 123 after a loss to No. 91 Natasha Marks (Arizona) in the NCAA Tournament ? Played all 13 fall doubles matches with Magdalena Wiecha for a 7-6 record ? Tandem competed in four tournaments ? Went 3-1 at Gopher Invitational (9/16-18) ? Reached semifinals in top flight at Wildcat Invitational in Evanston Ill. (9/30-10/2) ? Teamed with five other partners in the spring, ending the season paired with Doron Muravnik ? Defeated seven teams from ranked schools including Belinda Niu/Kate Turvey of No. 15 Northwestern and Daniela Vidal/Lynda Xepoleas of No. 34 Purdue.

2010-11 ? SOPHOMORE SEASON: Compiled an 13-20 singles record and a 15-21 doubles record ? Went 8-15 in singles dual match play, competing at positions No. 1 through 5 ? Played in a team-high 23 of 24 matches ? Won four of six matches from 1/24 to 2/18 ? Went 7-15 in doubles in the spring ? Began season as 84th-ranked doubles duo with Alessandra Ferrazzi ? Recorded a 5-5 ledger in fall singles play, with all five wins coming in straight sets ? took down Whitney Wilson of Michigan State and Kelsey Lawson of DePaul to advance to semifinals of Flight 'B' singles at Wildcat Invitational (10/8-10) ? Went 8-5 in fall doubles play, partnered with Alessandra Ferrazzi in all matches ? Tandem won six consecutive matched to claim Flight 'D' doubles title at the Wildcat Invitational and reach the semifinals at the ITA Central Regional (10/8-22) ? Began streak with a 9-8 triumph against No. 31 doubles tandem Selma Salkovic and Gia McKnight of DePaul ? Four of five losses came against opponents ranked in the nation's top 30.

2009-10 ? FRESHMAN SEASON: Regular player in both the singles and doubles lineups as a freshman with a 17-14 singles record and a 21-13 doubles ledger ? Tied for the team lead with 21 doubles wins ? Went 5-5 in Big Ten singles matches ? Went 3-1 in set tiebreakers and 2-1 in match tiebreakers ? Posted a 13-8 doubles record in the spring with three different partners ? Compiled a 7-3 Big Ten record at No.1 doubles with Alessandra Ferrazzi, defeating the nation's 82nd-ranked doubles tandem of Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray of Northwestern (4/18) ? Went 6-5 in three-set contests ? Compiled a 9-3 fall singles record with two wins over ranked opponents ? Downed 70th ranked Lenka Hojckova of North Carolina State while posting a 4-0 record at the North Carolina Invitational ? Beat 118th-ranked Alexandra Kichoutkin of Tulsa in the first round of the ITA Central Regional (10/21-25) ? Won the individual title in the No. 2 singles flight of the Gopher Invitational (9/25-27) with three victories, including a three-set win over Iowa's Alexis Dorr in the title match ? Finished with a 8-5 fall doubles record with six different partners.

PRIOR TO MINNESOTA: Graduate of Rochester Lourdes High School ? High school coach Kevin Rust ? Won two straight Minnesota Class A high school state singles titles, going undefeated in each of her final two seasons ? Dropped one game in four matches at state as a senior and won all four matches in straight sets as a junior ? Helped team win five state team championships ? Top-ranked player in the U.S. Tennis Association's Northern Section ? Five-star recruit according to tennisrecruiting.net and ranked No. 58 in the country following senior season ? Finalist in the K-Swiss National Open in Chicago in 2007 and won the National Open in Minneapolis in 2007 ? Reached the round of 16 in the Summer Hard Courts national tournament in 2007.

PERSONAL: Major is undeclared ? Daughter of Stephen and Kathryn Palen ? Born May 11, 1991 ? Fourth member of her family to play college tennis as sisters, Jill and Alyssa, played at Iowa State and sister, Lyndsey, was a Division III national doubles champion at Gustavus Adolphus ? Enjoys jetskiing and water skiing.