By Lindsey Boyd
Three years ago, if you said San Jose State won a match, you’d be dreaming.
That was in 2014 when the Spartans not only lost every single game, but lost every set. Their losing streak of 0-12 continued into 2015 when they finished 0-14.
Since then, SJSU has improved it’s record to 9-11 in 2016 and now 7-10 this season.
“We pursue this passionately and this game is part of our life,” said Summer Avery as she reflects on the past three years on the team. “It’s a big part of our life and I think we all give it our best effort.”
A third of the current players have been competing since the beginning — Avery, Nandyala Gama, Jamie Hirai, Allison Meehan, Breann Robinson and Julie Sam.
Head coach Aaron Shepardson has also been around since 2014 and has seen the team start to develop and improve.
“We’ve come a long way but it’s been very slow so we take one step at a time,” Shepardson said. “We can’t make any big jumps at any one time.”
The number one pair, Lyndi Scholl and Allison Meehan, led the team this season with a 8-9 record. It upset No. 18 UC Berkeley 21-19, 21-23, 15-10 and beat Stanford 21-16, 7-21, 17-15 in back-to-back games.
“It’s heartwarming that all [the] hard work we’ve been doing is paying off,” Scholl said.”It’s not going to stop us. We are just going to keep going and get better and better.”
The number two group, Gama and Sam, finished 5-11 and the number three tandem Giulia Gavio and Luiza Andrade split their matches going 5-5.
The fourth and fifth teams were also able to secure some wins for SJSU and played an integral role in cheering and supporting their teammates.
The Spartans look forward to having their own beach sand courts to practice and play on next season as the program continues to grow.
