The BC women's tennis team (15-3,8-1) had all they could handle today against Santa Barbara City College but came away with an amazing 5-4 victory against their conference foes. It was 91 degrees out and Santa Barbara was playing great tennis.
The day started out with singles play and it was a seesaw battle from the start. BC's #1 Paige Darstein fell in a tough battle with SBCC's Laura Berther 6-3,6-0. At #2 BC's Riley Tucker outlasted SBCC's Lesly DeLira 5-1(retire). At #3 BC's Brittany Aguilar fell to Tyler Bunderson of SBCC 6-1,6-3. BC's #4 Kaylee Defrees played a great match and won 6-2,6-2. With the score tied 2-2 Serena Contreras played really well and won at #6 by a score of 6-2,6-0 over SBCC's Natasha Fleisher. With BC up 3-2, all that was BC's #5 Arianna Acevedo vs SBCC's Paige Jensen. Acevedo won the first set in a hard fought tiebreak 7-6(7-4). The second set went to Jensen 6-3. The stage was set. The 2 girls had an amazing battle in 3rd set as it was a back and forth affair. Acevedo fought off match points at 4-5 and 5-6 and eventually pushed the match to a 3rd set tiebreaker. But SBCC's Jensen proved too tough and won the last set 7-6. That left singles play at 3-3.
Doubles play was intense. At #1 Darstein/Defrees went down to SBCC's Berther and DeLira 8-1. The team is still trying to find their chemistry but it is coming. At #2 Tucker and Aguilar came through with an 8-4 win over SBCC's Bunderson and Adelman. The duo is undefeated in conference play and their only loss came to Canāda during their San Francisco trip. Once again BC found themselves tied at 4-4 with #3 doubles left to play. Once again we put our faith in Acevedo and Contreras and once again they came through for us. It was a tight match for the first half. The 2 teams traded breaks of serve and everyone was kind of nervous. BC was down 3-4 after the changeover and then the lady gades really started to find their groove. Confident shots down the line and perfect lobs carried the gades down the stretch and they gritted out the 8-5 victory. These girls are really carrying us on their backs at the end of matches and they have repeatedly come through for us. They have ice water in their veins. It wasn't the prettiest tennis today but we desperately needed this win. And we got it. Now we have to put all our focus into Santa Monica on Thursday. This will be one of our toughest matches of the season. We snuck by them last time in Santa Monica 5-4. I have a feeling it will be even harder this time around. But we will be ready.
SINGLES
#1 Paige Darstein loses 6-3,6-0 against Laura Berther
#2 Riley Tucker wins 5-1(retire) against Lesly DeLira
#3 Brittany Aguilar loses 6-1,6-3 against Tyler Bunderson
#4 Kaylee Defrees wins 6-2,6-2 against Julianna Adelman
#5 Arianna Acevedo loses 6-7(7-4),6-3,7-6 against Paige Jensen
#6 Serena Contreras wins 6-2,6-0 against Natasha Fleisher
DOUBLES
#1 Darstein/Defrees loses 8-1 against Berther/DeLira
#2 Tucker/Aguilar wins 8-4 against Bunderson/Adelman
#3 Acevedo/Contreras wins 8-5 against Jensen/Fleisher
Next match is a huge one against Santa Monica on Thursday at 2pm at home
BC WOMENS RECORD 15-3 (8-1) conference