On March 1 at L.A. Pierce College, the Bakersfield College men’s tennis team took another one on the chin as they lost 8-1 in matches.
The only win for BC came with number two-seeded Michael Rice defeating Royce Pasiliao 6-4, 7-6 in a close two setter.
The BC women’s squad defeated Santa Monica College 5-4 on March 2 for their first conference win of the season.
The match was played at BC, but the start of the match was delayed because Santa Monica ran into a traffic situation.
The theme of the day for BC seemed to be a slew of comeback matches, and BC head coach Teri Lynott was pleased with the overall effort the girls put forth.
“Our first win of the season, it was a very interesting match. We had quite a few good comebacks.”
At No. 1 singles, BC’s Kim Butler defeated Courtney Gulihur 6-2, 6-3; at No. 4, BC’s Haleigh Dilbeck beat Karla Hernandez 5-7, 6-1, 6-3; at No. 5, BC’s Kassandra Beadle beat Arlette Peimbert 1-6, 6-2, 6-1; and at No. 6, BC’s Morgan Frazier beat Guadalupe Vega 6-2, 6-0. BC’s No. 2 doubles team beat Leah Stewart/Kassandra Beadle beat Courtney Gulihur/Ariette Peimbert 8-0.
“We do need to figure out a little bit of how to be better prepared to go into the match and be ready to play, so that we’re not losing first sets,” Lynott said.
“But it’s great that we’re able to come back and pull them out in the second and third, that’s been pretty exciting.”
Santa Barbara City College came in to BC on March 6 to play the men’s team.
The SBCC squad left after winning all their matches (9-0) against BC.
The Renegades also lost their top-seeded singles player Adrian Magallanes to a right ankle sprain near the end of his singles match to SBCC’s Miles Seemann.
Because of that injury, BC had to default their top-seeded doubles match against them.
BC, Victor Valley College, and Reedley College men’s squads met in a three team round-robin on March 7 at BC.
The men got their first win of the season against Victor Valley in the afternoon matches, beating them 7-2.
It was a very long day of tennis, but well worth the effort for the BC men as they also won the nightcap against Reedley 5-4. The Reedley matches came down to a very exciting doubles match between Thomas/Rivera (BC) and Moralez/Sangera (Reedley).
They ended the match winning it 9-8 (9-7 in the tie breaker), and it was the deciding match that finished after 10 p.m.
It was a very competitive match that featured some heated verbal exchanges, and it added to the drama.
Reflecting back on the matches, Lynott was pleased with the results considering they had lost their top singles player Magallanes due to an injury against Santa Barbara.
“It was a good match today against Victor Valley. You know we were missing our number one player today because he was hurt on Tuesday. He sprained his ankle.
He is going to try to play tomorrow [against Ventura], but we didn’t have him for the matches today, you know I really can’t separate the two things out really.”
Against Ventura College on March 8, both the BC men and women were shut out 9-0. Ventura is currently ranked No. 1 in the Western State Conference by Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.