OJAI, CA - Men's Tennis concluded their season this week in the Ojai Championships, one of the oldest tournaments in the country dating back to 1896.
Vaqueros freshman #1 Mauritz Seitz played steadily and advanced through the first two singles rounds, registering the same score 6-1, 6-0. Mauritz was sharp with his serve and made very few unforced errors as he wore down his opponents with his consistency.
In the round of 16, Mauritz met Robinson Pellualt, somewhat of a familiar foe from state champion Ventura College, who Mauritz had beaten in an amazing previous match in the Qualifiers event a few weeks ago. Both players have a great respect for each other's games and styles of play, so this matchup was sure to impress.
Though the match was similar to the last in that it was a long, grinding match, Mauritz experienced some unprecedented play on his part both positive and negative. For the first set and half, Mauritz was mentally stable, serving huge and connecting beautifully on balls as he had his way with Pellualt, moving him deep around the court at will. The first half of the match was entirely Mauritz's and it appeared that Robinson had no answer to Mauritz's flawless play. The Vaqs #1 was up 5-1 before he made a few unforced errors that the Ventura player capitalized on and recovered to break back Mauritz twice in the first set. At 5-5, it appeared that Robinson was back with his crafty style, drop shotting Mauritz well and making it tough for Mauritz to re-establish rhythm. Then, Mauritz intelligently adjusted his play, played a fearless return game and broke back to win the first set 7-5.
Early in the second set, Mauritz restarted brilliantly as he did in the beginning of the match and got up 3-0. Mauritz then got a bit ahead of himself and made some careless errors, and Robinson sharpened his backcourt depth plus brought Mauritz in shallow and Robinson ran off 5 consecutive games. Mauritz hit a wall mentally and lost his focus toward the end of the second and most of the third set. Whether it was looking ahead too soon, or Robinson putting more pressure on Mauritz, or likely a combination of both, the match momentum clearly swung to the Ventura player, and Mauritz was not playing or behaving like himself. Mauritz finally refocused late in the third set when it appeared it was going to be a rout in favor of Robinson. But, it wasn't enough to recover from the poor mental performance in the middle of the match, as Mauritz fell 7-5, 4-6, 4-6.
"I have been so impressed with Mauritz and the way he handled pressure all season," head coach Danny Echt said. "This was a match Mauritz knew he could be the victor. I am certain that he will take away a lot to help him improve from this match, as painful as it was for him. Credit to Robinson for showing a lot of guts and wheels."
In doubles, two SBCC teams qualified and experienced great tennis in Ojai.
#2 Vaqs Connor Schloemer and Dominic Arnell played against a strong Riverside team of Harvil/Delente, who had blanked the Vaqueros doubles team in the playoffs recently. This match, Dom and Connor started unevenly and got down 0-3 before they organized themselves well and fought back to win the first set. The comeback in the first set was fueled by Connor lighting up backhand return of serves and Dom getting great looks at volleys and overheads. The momentum shifted again in the first set tiebreak as the Vaqueros were down 1-5 and rallied back with high percentage doubles play to win the first set 9-7 in the tiebreaker.
Then, it was Riverside's turn as their serve and return plus one play caught fire in the second set and they quickly won the set 6-2. Then the third set 10-point superbreaker was like a crazy rollercoaster ride, and the fans were treated to a beautiful display of tennis and suspense. SBCC withstood attacks by Riverside's relentless backcourt pace and points were lengthening featuring offense and defense from both sides. SBCC had two match points at 9-8 and 10-9. On one match point for SBCC, Connor hit a high volley very well to the feet of the opponent who made a fabulous defensive get to extend the point. SBCC gave a great fight and fell 10-12 in the third set.
#1 Doubles team of Mauritz Seitz and Daniel Truong made quick work of their first two rounds, winning 6-1, 6-1 against Ohlone College and 6-3, 6-2 versus Fresno City College. The Vaqs were using disguise in the serving formations, playing aggressive, high percentage tennis.
The Vaqs round of 16 match was against the top seeded team from Irvine Valley College. The match started with team captain Daniel Truong, going down 0-40 in his serve game. Then 5 minutes later, Truong was still serving in the first game, and they found a way to close out game 1. That game showed the amount of pressure IVC was capable of putting on SBCC.
The first set was won by IVC 6-2 as they broke the Vaqueros two successive times. But, the second set was a different story, as the Vaqueros began to figure out how to handle Nick Grove's 120 mph serve. The Vaqs broke Pardo and then consolidated the break with Mauritz serving his own version of bombs. The match livened up at this point as the Vaqueros were not going to go down without their proper fight. During an unusually long point where Daniel was attempting to poach on a ball and slipped and hit the court hard, play continued while Daniel was down not moving, then all of a sudden, Daniel pops up, does a Spiderman jump toward a high backhand volley attempting to put it away and nearly missed. Everyone watching was amused and the opponents showed appreciation for Daniel's courage. IVC took the closer second set 6-4.
Doubles play has come a long way this season for SBCC.
"I recognize that many players were asked to play a style that at first, they were clearly not comfortable with," Echt concluded. "However, they stuck it out and progressed steadily throughout the season, and that came to fruition here with solid doubles play in the last tournament. I am encouraged that the progress is a great sign for the future and we hope to build on the successes next season!"
