The Bakersfield College tennis team played Glendale College on Feb 23. The women played at BC and lost a tight match up 5-4, after being tied 4-4 going in to the last doubles match. The men’s squad did not fare as well and was defeated 8-1 at Glendale.
The only BC win came from the singles, with fifth- seeded Joseph Theisen winning 6-1,6-2 over Rick Ivynian.
The BC women posted wins by fourth-seeded Haleigh Dilbeck 6-2,2-6,6-3 over Phoebe Minette, fifth-seeded Kassandra Beadle 6-1,6-1 over Katherine Akmakji, sixth-seeded Morgan Frazier 6-1,6-2 over Brianna Hayes, and in the doubles, the third-seeded team of Kim Butler/Morgan Frazier defeated Brianna Hayes/Katherine Akmakji 8-6.
BC assistant coach Chuck Provencio, who presided over the women’s matches, discussed their matches.
“Glendale is traditionally one of the toughest schools in our conference,” he said.
“They really pushed us in the top three, and we pushed back in the bottom three in singles.
“Doubles, they showed more strength, they mixed in the one and three together, and the two and four, so they could keep a strong number two doubles. We pushed them, we just didn’t quite push hard enough in that number two doubles, so we had an 8-4 loss.
“It was a good showing from everybody, our girls showed a lot of heart, so I think we got some room to improve, but we’re definitely on the right track,” he said.
“The things we’re going to look at a little bit harder is serving.
“We’re on the right track with it, but we’re coming up a little bit short, so we’re going to work on the serves. I think we need to look a little bit more at playing some extra doubles in practice.
“I think we looked a little bit uncomfortable in some key moments in the doubles, and I would like to strengthen up those areas.
“Overall, I feel like we did a real good job of rallying and really pushing the other player to make a good move.”
Next up for the BC women is a road match against Allan Hancock College on Feb. 28, and the men’s squad plays against L.A. Pierce on March 1 at BC.