It’s been a season of ups and downs for the Bakersfield College men’s and women’s tennis teams.
On March 24, the women beat Santa Barbara College 7-2 while the men lost by the same score to the same college. With the victory, Santa Barbara completed the season sweep of the men’s team.
The women tried to avoid suffering the same fate against rival, Cuesta College on March 26 but failed to do so in a hard-fought 7-2 loss.
“Our motto has always been ‘never give up,'” said Gene Lundquist, head coach. “They are a very talented team.”
Cuesta came into the game against BC with 22 consecutive conference match victories. At the end of the day, Cuesta had 23,
Although it was a losing effort, some BC players displayed exceptional performances.
Katie O’Leary, the women’s No. 2 player, was a prime example.
O’Leary extended her current singles streak to 7 consecutive by defeating Heather Hawke of Santa Barbara 6-3, 6-2, and Cuesta’s Devin Merigold 6-2.
O’Leary was in command during the first set before an injury prohibited Merigold from continuing the match.
O’Leary’s last singles loss was to Merigold 6-3, 6-1 on Feb. 26.
“I didn’t even realize I was on one,” said O’Leary, when asked about her current streak.”
Lundquist believes that it was O’Leary’s rigorous style of play that aided Merigold’s early withdraw.
O’Leary was more than pleased with the outcome.
“It was my last time playing Cuesta, so I wanted to end with a win,” she said.
“She [O’Leary] is one of the most competitive and persistent players I’ve ever seen” said Lundquist.
The BC men lost 7-2 the first time they met Santa Barbara this season back on Feb. 24.
BC head coach Regina Csibi-Krueger felt like this was a great learning experience for her players.
“Even though the score doesn’t show, we came close to in many of the matches,” said Csibi-Krueger.
She believes that experience will play a big factor in the development of her players.
“Overall, we played much better than the first time we played them” said Csibi-Krueger.
Both the men and the women will face Allan Hancock on April 2. The men will travel to Santa Maria while the women play at BC.