By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Women's Tennis team lost a close season-opening match at home against Ventura on Thursday, 5-4.
"Today was a good start to the season," head coach Chris Pope said. "We're a new team and we didn't have an offseason, so the girls had met each other only a few weeks ago and they bonded quickly and played well today."
The Vaqueros cruised in both of their doubles matches, with Carmen Tzab and Kate Zeile leading off to a dominate 8-1, and Sierra Bolanos and Nicole O'Malley following suit with an 8-4 victory.
"I saw some real potential in both my doubles teams," Pope added. "Doubles can often make a team win or lose a match, so if they keep playing the way they did today, I think they'll have a successful season."
After a default resulted in a loss to round out the doubles matches, Tzab and Zeile picked up where they left off in 2-set singles wins.
From there, the tide turned, though. Bolanos lost a tough first set tiebreaker at 11-9, then lost a close second set 6-4 for the first Vaqueros played loss of the day. O'Malley and Anna Kronberg fell in the 4 and 5 singles, and SBCC was forced to default the 6.
"Ventura had some pretty scrappy and unorthodox players," Pope said of the momentum swing. "I think it caught some of my girls off-guard. It was difficult for them to adjust."
Ironically, the Vaqueros went 4-3 in matches played, but the 2 defaults would be the difference, resulting in a 5-4 loss.
"Unfortunately, since we only have five players we will always be defaulting two lines: 3 doubles and 6 singles. At the start of every match, we are already losing 0-2, first to 5. It's a tough spot to be in," Pope concluded.
The Vaqueros will be on the road for their next 4 matches, playing next against D-III Cal Lutheran on Saturday.
Doubles:
1. Carmen Tzab/Kate Zeile (SBCC) def. Iannacone/Schmidt (VC) 8-1
2. Sierra Bolanos/Nicole O'Malley (SBCC) def. DeRosa/Moga (VC) 8-4
3. SBCC defaulted (L)
Singles:
1. Carmen Tzab (SBCC) def. Schmidt (VC) 6-3, 7-5
2. Kate Zeile (SBCC) def. Iannacone (VC) 6-3, 6-1
3. Moga (VC) def. Sierra Bolanos (SBCC) 7(11)-6(9), 6-4
4. DeRosa (VC) def. Nicole O'Malley (SBCC) 6-4, 6-2
5. Aguiar (VC) def. Anna Kronberg (SBCC) 6-3, 6-2
6. SBCC defaulted (L)
