By Cindy Maciel — Reporter
Women’s tennis is doing big things this season. The Spartans women have won their 12th straight game earning their undefeated streak. You know the team is doing something special when they beat Saint Mary’s College. The college that hasn’t been defeated by Spartan tennis since 2003.
“It feels great. I hate losing,” said head coach Chad Skorupka. “We never beat them and we never came close so it’s very gratifying.”
Skorupka mentioned the emotion of defeating Saint Mary’s College in March with a 4-3 final score. He said this season the team is competing a lot harder than the previous teams. Their fierce competitiveness has led them on top.
“If you don’t compete with your talent then it doesn’t do you any good,” Skorupka said.
With tennis being an international sport, that talent comes from all over the world. Skorupka met two of the athletes in their home countries before signing them. One of them is talented senior athlete Savannah Sendar from the Netherlands.
Sendar started her senior year with an unstoppable momentum. She grew up admiring her mother’s athleticism playing tennis and wanted to follow in her steps. She grew up in Horn, Netherlands where she took up tennis as a child.
“In the four years that I’ve had her, she’s had a huge improvement in her game,” Skorupka said.
Skorupka said he had a good feeling about Sendar upon first meeting her, and wanted her to become a Spartan. But the transition to living in San Jose affected her first year of play.
“She couldn’t get a backhand,” Skorupka said. At the time other players questioned him about picking her for the team. “I said ‘listen, when I saw her she could hit the backhand.’”
Getting comfortable in a new country with new faces and new customs can be a struggle to any student. Luckily for the Spartan tennis players, they all come from different parts of the world and can relate to one another when they miss home.
Freshman psychology major Jovana Babic knows that feeling of the unfamiliarity very well.
“For sure my family. I miss them a lot,” Babic said. “And my friends. They are the only things I miss from back home.”
Babic is from Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Since she was 16, Babic always wanted to enroll into a university. After meeting coach Skorupka, she was convinced that San Jose was where she wanted to be.
“He showed me pictures of the campus and I found it very beautiful. It was like a dream of mine to be here,” Babic said.
Despite the challenges in her new environment, Babic wants to improve her game during her time here. She’s keeping her options open for when she goes back home to make the tennis into a career. As for right now, she is thoroughly enjoying the 12-game win streak.
“It feels amazing,” Babic said. “We are doing really great right now and we work very well as a team.”
Winning every game for a perfect record would be a monumental achievement for the Spartans. They have four games left in the season and seniors like Sendar are enjoying their send-off.
“This is the best start I could wish for as my last semester,” Sendar said. “This is probably the semester I’m going to remember the most when looking back, with having such a great start of the season.”
Sendar’s achievements aren’t just limited to the court. She is a two-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete, an Academic All-Mountain West and Mountain West Scholar Athlete and her academic accolades have awarded her as a Dean Scholar.
Sendar has a lot to teach freshmen teammates like Babic. A veteran who has made it past that transition period makes it easier for her younger teammates to do the same. Knowing they have each other for support makes it feel like family.
“I’m very proud of all the girls and our team,” Babic said. “My seniors, they help a lot and I’m happy to know such beautiful and nice girls on my team.”
Their strong family bond could be what is bulldozing them to the top. The ladies will continue to play over the weekend, when they face the University of New Mexico and Air Force Academy.
follow Cindy on Twitter @CindyMaciel20