By Lindsey Boyd:
There was no double fault for the women’s tennis team this weekend when they traveled to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly, bringing home one loss and one win respectively.
The Spartans (2-2) were defeated 4-3 by UC Santa Barbara (1-4) on Feb. 11, an improvement from their previous 5-2 loss March 23, 2016.
The non-conference showdown included the much-anticipated match between nationally ranked players Sybille Gauvain and Palina Dubavets.
Gauvain, ranked #96, lost in a highly competitive first set to deuce 5-5 with #80-ranked Dubavets, but ultimately fell 7-5. Gauvain bounced back in the second set to smash Dubavets 6-2, but fell short again in the third, 6-4.
“We just need to be a little sharper on the ‘deuce’ games.” said Spartans head coach Chad Skorupka in a post game interview.
Waterloo native, Marine Dans blew her opponent, Jaimee Gilbertson out of the water in two straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. Sophomore Miyo Kobayashi went head to head with UCSB’s Amanda Atanasson to win in three sets, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2.
The singles game was not strong for the Spartans against UCSB. SJSU lost 4 of it’s 6 games against UCSB in singles. The nail-bitter, back and forth day resulted in a 4-3 loss for SJSU.
The Spartans’ doubles teams were the real winners, winning two out of three games.
The #1 doubles team, Gauvain and Marie Klocker were victorious in their match as were #3 pair Kobayashi and Tamara Culibrk.
SJSU had a chance to sleep it off and play again the next day when it faced Cal Poly and set the match on fire winning 4-0.
No nails were bitten today.
Gauvain & Klocker went for their second win of the weekend together defeating their opponents Seriana Saltzen & Molly Reed 6-2, while Dans and Gaelle Rey won 6-3.
The Spartan’s stuffed the Mustangs in singles. Kobayashi quickly put away Sayaka Tsugai, 6-0, 6-0. Rey and Gauvain also won in two sets.
SJSU will face the NCAA champions, Stanford (#4) Feb. 14 at 1:30 p.m.
The Spartans will try and show that both pairs and singles can win on Valentine’s Day.