Both men’s and women’s Bakersfield College tennis teams started their seasons with tough matches against Ventura County Community College. Although both teams lost, they didn’t go down without a fight against Ventura, who was ranked number one in the preseason.

The men’s team lost their match 9-0, which is surprising considering they won all of their preseason matches.

“We may have been a hair in awe of them because they’re in our league and we know they won the state last year,” said coach Rob Slaybaugh. “Even though we didn’t win a match, the kids responded really well in singles, because two of the matches went three sets, and a few of the matches were really competitive.”

The women’s team did well against Ventura in singles, with each team winning three matches.

However, after BC won the first doubles match, Ventura won the last two games of the match, making the final score 5-4.

“It was a close match,” said assistant coach Richard Faidley. “A lot closer than I thought I expected it to be.

“I thought Ventura would be a lot stronger.”

Although Ventura won two out of three doubles matches, the matches were still very close.

“At first we were really down. We were down 4-1 at one time, and the girls came back to almost winning the match, but they lost that one 8-6, so it was a close set for number two doubles,” said Faidley.

The final doubles match for the women’s team had a line call made by one of the BC players overruled.

“It was a pivotal point in a pivotal match,” said Faidley. “That didn’t lose the match for us, but I think it was our girls’ attitudes after the point was overruled, they got upset and didn’t play as focused as they should have been.”

Even after their defeat, Faidley still remains confident.

“It was a very close match. I think next time we play them, we’re going to beat them.”

BC will have a home match on March 4 against LA Pierce.