Zoë Woodward – Spear Reporter │ Freshman Camila Celis returning in doubles against Cal Poly. Photo by Zoë Woodward.
Despite losing all doubles games, San Jose State women’s tennis (5-3, 0-0 MW) had a chance of making a comeback in the singles against Cal Poly (6-3, 2-0 BW) on Saturday.
From the start of the afternoon, the Mustangs put on a dominant performance by not allowing the Spartans to put points on the board.
In the doubles, SJSU’s sophomore Soledad Fayos Capilla and freshman Camila Celis weren’t able to break Cal Poly and only found a way to win one game, as they lost 6-1.
There was hope for a short time in one of the other games as partners junior Duru Durgun and sophomore Emma Fantousis found themselves ahead 4-2.
The Mustangs didn’t give up though and were able to level the scores at 4-4 before taking the victory at 6-4.
It was a very similar story in the third matchup as freshman Tara Mihaljevic and sophomore Cristina Mateos Losada were also level at 4-4 but ended up giving the point to their opponents, ending the game 6-4.
“I think the energy in doubles is what we have to learn,” Mateos Losada said. “The most important thing right now is doubles and how to take care of those important points.”
Heading into the singles games, SJSU had to regroup and refocus.
The Spartans needed to find a way to put the loss behind them and keep their heads high.
However, SJSU had another rocky start as Fantousis and Mateos Losada were the only two that won the first game of its respective matches.
Even with their best efforts to motivate each other and bring home a victory, their frustration was growing and Cal Poly was pulling further away.
After playing a tight doubles match, Mihaljevic was shut out in the first set and could only find three games in the second set, meaning she was defeated 6-0, 6-3.
The hope of a comeback for SJSU came from Mateos Losada who kept her opponent at arms length from start to finish and saw them off 6-4, 6-4.
A lot was needed to find the second victory as Celis took her match to a third set after a tie break, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 10-4.
It was the chance the Spartans needed to share the singles points with the Mustangs.
Much to their despair, devastation came next from Durgun. She had won the first set 6-2, but allowed senior Kennedy Buntrock back into the match after she won a tie break, 7-6 (7-4).
In the third set Buntrock was the dominant player and won the set 10-3 with ease.
“Even though we are losing, we need to keep training and saying positive things,” Celis said. “We needed more energy in the big points specifically.”
SJSU will try to get back to winning ways when they take on Santa Clara University at noon on Thursday at the Spartan Tennis Complex.
