Quit Playing Games With My Heart
It was a week of heartache, heartwarming, but mostly just heart for the women's tennis team, coming up off the high from the two wins last week.
On Tuesday the team sailed south to face top-tier Ventura College in an away game, which proved to be against all odds. A day later the team rallied together to battle Glendale College in another away game, which left the week on a positive note, and kept the comeback story of the semester rising.
Tuesday's meeting with Ventura College was not exactly a good measure on the team. Two players were out sick, so the slightly outgunned Lady Corsairs had to make do with a shortened roster.
The singles portion went right down the middle, with both teams winning three matches. It had come to doubles, composed of a very hard fought and riveting threesome of matches. As usual the terrorizing twosome of team captain Anastasia Eliseeva and Julia Cobian won their match.
Unfortunately, the other two matches ended up losing. The game ended with a 5-4 win to
Ventura College, the same score Ventura
won with when they last meet the Lady
Corsairs in late February when the entire
team was healthy. This went to show how much the team had improved.
Even Coach Richard Goldenson couldn't help
but remark how the team gave it their absolute all.
Thursday was a completely different story as the team faced Glendale College at Glendale. The last time these two teams met, Glendale out-performed the then-novice team.
Ivette Lopez was hospitalized due to a sudden bout of appendicitis, leaving Sally Mercado to move up a spot. Mercado adjusted to the change well, winning her match. "She played her heart out," said Goldenson.
Just like the Ventura game, the singles round finished with a tie of 3-3. There were no particular dominating performances in the singles, but the doubles round was an entirely different ballgame. Mercado and Caroline Hofsten teamed up for a punishing 8-3 win against their opponents. Alix Thomas
and Sarah Anderson had trouble with their match, and lost out 8-2.
With the score tied 4-4, it wasn't exactly business as usual for Eliseeva and Cobian as they struggled, though eventually won their
match. The meeting ended with a 5-4 win just as the Ventura game did. However, this time, SMC took the five. Goldenson had great things to say about the team, and their drive: "As for strategy, that has led to our improvement.
One of the reasons for this season's turnaround is they've become match tough, but the greatest reason is they've really come together as a unit and have incredible team spirit. They really support one another and cheer each other on. I'd say that we're by far the loudest team in the conference. It has been great to watch this team bond and come together. They are so passionate about tennis that after the win at Glendale some of the players were shedding tears of
joy, which was the first time I saw that
in my nine seasons at SMC. This team
has amazing heart."
The Lady Corsairs may not be top of the rankings, and may not be a pretty team on paper, but they get the job done. They're the loudest, the most driven and they have something most important than any stellar performing team: heart.
The Lady Corsairs are playing El Camino College on Tuesday and Cuesta College on Thursday. Both meetings are home games for the Lady Corsairs.