Early in the week, the UCR women’s tennis team faced off against Loyola Marymount at the Student Recreation Center. The matchup was the Highlanders’ first since suffering a 1-4 loss to conference opponent Hawaii. The team was looking to recover, but they were met with an even more devastating 0-7 loss at the hands of the Lions.
The match was mostly one-sided as the closest Highlander to earn a victory was Chloe Pham who fell just a couple sets behind her singles competitor by scores of 7-5 and 6-3. While doubles saw the Highlanders only come as close as 6-4.
It was a completely different story against Whittier College on Saturday, Feb. 20 as the Highlanders turned their luck around with an impressive 8-1 win. Pham, Tracy Van and Karla Dulay all had straight-set victories in individuals, with Natalie Penner and Tamila Vaksman both destroying their opponents at 6-0, 6-0 respectively. With last year being a similar story against the Poets (7-0), it was no surprise to see a repeat of history.
A boost in confidence is what the Highlanders needed and with such confidence, hopefully they can translate it into a win against Big West opponent Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 11 a.m.
