The Bakersfield College women’s tennis team was rained out of their first scrimmage of the season against Fresno City and as a result, was rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 1.
Head coach Gene Lundquist was looking forward to getting the team out to see what they can do in a live situation.
“Well, obviously it’s the first match of the year and I just want to see how they perform under pressure,” Lundquist said.
“Things change a bit when you actually get in a real match as opposed to hitting with each other.”
The team has nine players on the team that coach Lundquist feels are all close in talent.
“From top to bottom, we’re all just about equal, [and] that’s how you win, by being strong from top to bottom.”
Megan Pate-Raphael is the Renegade’s number one seed, followed by sophomores Jessica Burrow at two and Emily Carnal at three, freshman Katja Thacker is fourth and Jaylin Chan rounding out the top five. But coach Lundquist isn’t sure if it will stay that way.
“That’s all in a state of flux, you know, depending on how we do in the first half of the year.”
“We always have a good team but this year especially, we’re really deep. We’re all the same level so our 1-8 could all beat each other any given day,” added Emily Carnal.
The team has one major goal in mind for the season, to win conference, and the players know it’s going to take a lot of work.
“We haven’t done that for several years and we really want to, so we hopefully will this year,” said Lundquist.
Burrow said, “I really got to step up my game this season because our goal is to win conference.”
Last year BC came in second in conference to Cuesta, but the school has recently dropped their tennis program.
“I’m disappointed we won’t get a chance to bat them since we took second place to them the last two years,” said Lundquist. “Ventura will be tough and Glendale, [while] Santa Barbra and Santa Monica in the past have been a little bit down but who knows.”
Pate-Raphael, who took last year off from tennis, feels the team was a bit deeper at doubles two seasons ago but still believes the team is strong throughout the ladder and with the departure of Cuesta, will win conference.
Coach Lundquist said the team has adopted their motto from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “We never ever give up,” he went on to add, “we also teach total sportsmanship here and our team has a reputation of comporting themselves in a way Bakersfield College can be proud of. And I’m really proud of that.”
The team is also going to be playing on courts that have recently been resurfaced, the first time in 20 years.
After the Fresno scrimmage the team plays Sierra College and Fresno City on Feb. 6 and home against Glendale on April 6. and at the Ojai tournament which most of the team is looking forward to.