Ten straight for women’s tennis

USD women’s tennis continues success with 4-0 West Coast Conference victory over BYU

Anderson Haigler / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

Any way you slice it, the University of San Diego women’s tennis team is playing well right now. They’ve won 10 consecutive matches, and 12 of their last 13. And in a matchup against WCC opponent Brigham Young University (BYU) on a sunny Saturday afternoon last weekend, the Toreros continued their success with a 4-0 victory over the Cougars.

“I saw a lot of girls working really hard to finish their matches,” USD women’s tennis head coach Sherri Stephens said after the match. 

The Toreros found early success in doubles play, earning 6-1 victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, with juniors Kati Kukaras and Gemma Garcia first earning the win at the No. 3 position. Minutes later, junior Daniela Morales and redshirt first year Maria Tyrina secured the doubles point for the Toreros with a win of their own, making the score 1-0 in favor of USD. Stephens spoke about her team’s early advantage.

“Our doubles is getting better and better, so that helps to go into the singles with a point,” Stephens said.

When the match moved on to singles play, senior Maria-Paula Torres took charge, defeating BYU’s Katie Fitt at the No. 5 position by scores of 6-0 and 6-1, to give the Toreros at 2-0 lead. Torres described her and her teammates’ performance after the match.

“I think that we were playing really good,” Torres said. “(BYU) was really competitive too, and it was good that (the match was at home) because we are used to playing and practicing here. So I think we did a really good job in every part of the match.”

Like Torres said, the Toreros excelled in every facet of the match, both singles and doubles. After her victory, first year Solymar Colling, the reigning WCC Singles Player of the Week, kept things rolling with a 6-4, 6-1, victory at the No. 1 position against the Cougars’ Kate Cusick.

Late in the match, USD was able to close things out behind a win at the No. 6 position from Tyrina, clinching a 4-0 WCC victory over BYU for the Toreros, their third straight in the conference. Once USD’s sweep of the Cougars concluded, Stephens stated that she was impressed with her team’s ability to finish strong.

“It wasn’t easy, it never is, especially when you get into conference play,” Stephens said. “They all grinded it out, and I’m really proud of them.”

The victory marked the latest in a string of successful matches for USD that has seen them win 10 straight. According to Stephens, her team’s consistent success as of late has stemmed from their determination, perseverance, and ability to play as a team.

“The battle, just the battle,” Stephens said. “They just never give up. One thing our team does really well is when someone isn’t playing well, someone else steps up; it’s all evened out all year long.”

The win moves the Toreros’ record to 12-2 overall, and 3-0 in the WCC. Their three wins so far in the conference already tops the win total of the disappointing 2-6 WCC record they posted last season that saw them fail to qualify for the conference tournament. With momentum on their side, they appear poised to continue their success and make last season a distant memory. Stephens mentioned that the Toreros’ falling short of their goals last season may have served as extra motivation in their current campaign, and that her team may be playing with a chip on their collective shoulder.

“Everything just kind of came together,” Stephens said. “The girls gelled, they wanted it. They were pretty embarrassed that we didn’t get into (the conference tournament) last year, they came back in September ready to fight and play and work hard, and they’ve done just that.”

To Torres, the Toreros’ improvement this season has been a matter of being more locked in.

“I think we’re more focused,“ Torres said. “We’re practicing harder, we’re a really, really close-knit team, so that helps a lot during our matches.” 

As Stephens looked ahead to the remainder of the season, she made her team’s ultimate goal clear. 

“Our conference in the women’s side, everybody’s good,” Stephens said. “It can be anybody’s match at any time, in the tournament anything can happen. Kinda like basketball, you can have a Cinderella story — hopefully that’s us when we win it. We have to take it one match at a time first, but we’re looking forward to (the conference tournament) and seeing if we can get an automatic bid (to the NCAA tournament).” 

The Toreros will return home on Sunday, April 14 at 11 a.m. to continue WCC play with a match versus Loyola Marymount University.