The UCSD women’s tennis team spent the weekend of Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 waiting out uncooperative weather and court conditions in anticipation for home matches against Cal Poly Pomona and UC Davis. While the Tritons were never able to take the court against their California Collegiate Athletic Association rival, the Broncos, the match between the Tritons and Aggies on Feb. 13 turned into an exciting one, and when all was said and done, the Tritons emerged victorious.
The match, originally slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Northview Tennis Courts, was delayed due to numerous pools of water that had collected on the court from rainstorms. When the rain stopped and the sun peeked out through the clouds, the courts were still not in playing condition, and competition had to be postponed for over an hour and a half while the court was dried.
At 12:15 p.m., the players finally hit the court. The Tritons took an early lead in doubles play, with the tandems of sophomores Kristin Bronowicki and Katie McKee picking up an 8-5 win at the No. 2 spot, and senior Jasmin Dao and junior Marissa Hilker winning at the No. 3 spot, 8-3. The Tritons’ No.1 doubles team, junior Tara Siddiqui and sophomore Marsha Malinow, dropped an 8-4 decision.
UCSD took a 2-1 lead entering singles play, but the Aggies stormed back and won the top three spots. Dao, Malinow and Hilker fought hard, but all went down in straight sets.
At the bottom of the ladder, at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, the Tritons’ Bronowicki and junior Leigh Roberts came through for UCSD, picking up straight-set wins of their own, 6-1, 6-2 and 7-5, 6-2, respectively. This deadlocked the match score between the two teams at 4-4, with one left to play.
This set the stage for a dramatic and decisive finish between Siddiqui, in her first singles match of the season, and the Aggies’ freshman Kaitlin Callan at the No. 4 singles spot. The two competitors played in the only three-set match of the day, with Callan taking the first set, 6-3, and Siddiqui taking the second by the same score. This set up a third set that — unbeknownst to the players at the time— would decide the victor of the match.
Due to the travel plans of the UC Davis team, it was decided before the players went on to play the third set that it would be an abbreviated, super tie-breaker that would be won by the first to 10 points, winning by two. The tie-breaker started off a little shaky for Siddiqui, she fell into an early 0-2 hole before righting the ship and reeling off 10 straight points.
“Not knowing that I was playing for the whole match in that tie-break really helped,” Siddiqui said. “I started off the match really tense and got frustrated. But early in the second set, I regained my focus and just played, trying not to think too much. I didn’t worry about winning or losing, just on playing. I hope that we as a team can learn to not put too much pressure on ourselves, take things point by point and just have fun.”
Head coach Liz LaPlante is very encouraged by the team’s performance.
“Since we have pretty much the same group back, we have a lot of experience,” she said. “Players that were new last year are a lot more confident this year. Even one year’s experience makes a big difference.”
The team’s overall record is now 3-0, but the Tritons have yet to play against a conference opponent. They will get their chance this weekend, when they head to the road for two away matches on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 against conference rivals Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State San Bernardino.
LaPlante says that her team is confident about the conference, but will have obstacles to overcome.
“We’ll need some tough matches, in order to prepare for our matches against the teams from Hawaii later this season,” she said.
The state of Hawaii houses two of the toughest teams the Tritons are likely to face this season, Hawaii-Hilo and BYU Hawaii, the top Division II teams in the country.
