Written by Jack Bush-Joseph
This last weekend was another busy one for the Colorado College men’s and women’s tennis teams. On Saturday, the men’s team matched up against Division III Hastings College, and then on Sunday both teams faced Division II Colorado Mesa University.
The men’s team has been facing some tough times lately, losing seven matches in a row. On Saturday, junior Jason Gutierrez and freshman Daniel Holland showed up big by winning their No. 1 doubles match as well as their individual match-ups in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Gutierrez rallied big time to win at the top position with a score of 1-6, 7-6, 7-6(6), while Holland took care of business winning 6-4, 6-3. Unfortunately, the team was still not able to rally. The Tigers were defeated in the other two doubles matches 8-3 and lost three of the other four singles matches. The day finished with a final score of 3-6.
Sunday’s match against a strong Colorado Mesa University team was rather disappointing for the Tigers. The Mavericks swept all nine matches to get a 9-0 victory over CC at Memorial Park.
On a slightly brighter note, Sunday’s match up for the women’s team, although ending in defeat, was a good show of resilience from the Tigers against a tough Colorado Mesa team. The women’s team had to shake off a little bit of rust after having their match against California State University-Stanislaus cancelled due to weather conditions. It is very possible that the cancelation took some steam out of the Tiger’s momentum since their last match was over Spring Break.
The Tigers started out strong, winning the top two doubles matches thanks to sophomore Fiona Cerf, and freshmen Annie Zelvor, Madison Doerre, and Simone Hall. Unfortunately, the Tigers had to make adjustments after Cerf was unable to play her singles match due to injuries, forcing every Tiger to move up one spot.
The women undoubtedly stepped up to the challenge though, with sophomore Natalia Dellavalle making a big rally to win the No. 1 singles match with a score of 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, as well as junior captain Maddie Cahill-Sanidas pulling out a victory in the No. 4 spot.
With the teams evenly-matched, it all came down to the No. 6 match between junior Gillian Hyde and Mesa’s Katie Metz. The two traded blows black and forth, forcing into a third set where Metz was able to hold on and clinch the match for the Mavericks. The match ended with a narrow loss for the Tigers, 4-5. The women’s team now sits at an overall record of 9-7 with still plenty to play for.
“I think the team really stepped up to the challenge and played well,” said Cerf. “It was really exciting to see our team battle it out with them. Obviously having to sit out the singles matches was a bummer, but almost pulling out the win was big.”
Sunday’s match up against Mesa showed the team’s ability to step up against a strong opponent and fight adversity as well as strength in the depth chart.
This Thursday, the men’s team faced off for their final home match of the 2015-2016 season against Division II BYU-Hawaii. Results were not available at the time of publication.
The team can look forward to some tough conference play to close out the season before the 2016 SCAC conference championships at the end of April.
The women’s team will return to the court to take on Division II CSU-Pueblo on Sunday, April 10.