(Photo by Thomas Christian)
By Thomas Christian (@ThomasGOATnba) – Reporter
After a tough loss to cross-county rival Santa Clara University, San Jose State women’s tennis looked to bounce back Saturday. Its then .500 record was a far cry from a hot 3-1 start to the season. An overcast day seemed to be the perfect setting for a potential turning point in their season.
The opponent, UC Davis, was fresh off a win against CSU Northridge and was 3-2 in its last five matches. These Aggies shaped up to be a real test for SJSU.
In its last match, SJSU fell behind quickly on doubles, getting swept 3-0. Forcing its singles players to carry them home, the Spartans could not get the job done, falling 4-3 to the Broncos.
A small crowd was present, with SJSU hoping for a better start to its seventh team match of the season. The pressure was on the doubles players to keep pace with UC Davis early on.
After the doubles round, the Spartans led the Aggies with a one game advantage. While not the all-but-match sealing three-game sweep they were looking for, it was the break SJSU needed.
Head coach Chad Skorupka was in high-spirits going into the singles matches, counting on his best players to carry the Spartans home.
Halfway through an intense round of singles matches, the Spartans were in a precarious position, down in all but one of the six individual matchups. Still, Skorupka kept his players on an even keel, which is essential for this mentally taxing sport.
Three singles matches ended up going to a pivotal third set. Meanwhile, UC Davis evened the team score by going 2-1 in the other three matches. All eyes were then focused on courts one, three and six as each matchup was crucial for either team.
Senior Alba Galindo took care of business on court one, tying the third set 6-6 before winning an intense tiebreaker round.
Following a close loss in the third set for juniors Lara Marco Mas, Rozalina Youseva lost what could have been the clinching point on a controversial call by the line judge. Still, the Spartans had each other’s backs and played hard to finish their matches even when UC Davis had already clinched the win.
A good look in the statistics column, UC Davis ended up taking the match with a final team score of 4-3. This is SJSU’s third straight loss after a hot start, now falling to just 3-4 on the year.
They will play next at the University of San Francisco on March 4 at 11 am.