By Otis White – Spear Reporter | Spartans juniors Soledad Fayos Capilla (left) and Emma Fantousis (right) compete during a match at the Spartan Tennis Complex in San Jose, California. (Photo by SJSU Athletics)
San Jose State women’s tennis team closed out a competitive weekend at the Battle of the Bay tournament Sunday afternoon, with junior Soledad Fayos Capilla competing in singles to wrap up the Spartans’ tournament run.
Fayos Capilla battled Saint Mary’s freshman Stella Remander in a tight three-set match but ultimately fell, 6-4, 6-4, [3-10].
The Spartans opened up the tournament Thursday with a strong performance in doubles. Juniors Emma Fantousis and Fayos Capilla represented the Spartans, defeating University of California, Berkeley sophomores Laura Cilekova and Mille Johanna Moerk, 8-4, propelling SJSU over one of the tournament’s top programs.
Fayos Capilla put together a valiant effort in the singles, taking UC Santa Barbara’s junior Emma Tutoveanu to three sets before falling 6-3 in the last set. Fantousis also dropped her singles match to Cilekova 6-1, 6-3.
Friday, the Spartans faced another difficult test against University of Georgia’s No. 2-seeded duo, sophomore Patricija Paukstyte and freshman Nadia Lagaev. The pair won the doubles match, 8-2.
Both Fantousis and Fayos Capilla battled in their singles matches but came up short against Pepperdine University.
The competition remained tough on Saturday as both Spartans returned for singles play.
Fayos Capilla faced University of Southern California’s freshman Kiara Zabkova and fell 6-1,6-3. Fantousis battled Saint Mary’s Remander but was ultimately defeated 7-5, 6-3.
Despite the results, the weekend provided SJSU with experience against a deep field of players from several programs.
“We’re gonna keep working, next week we got regionals,” SJSU assistant coach Fatima Gutierrez said.
SJSU will look to carry that experience into its next competition at the ITA Regional Championships, scheduled for Oct. 8-11 in Stanford, Calif.
