Toreros split opening weekend

USD women’s tennis goes 1-1 after first weekend of competition

Maria Watters / Assistant Sports Editor

The University of San Diego’s women’s tennis team kicked off their 2021 season by sweeping the Cal State Fullerton Titans before getting swept by the UCLA Bruins on Friday and Saturday, respectively. 

USD delivered a dominating performance against the Titans for their home opener on Friday. After three sets of doubles and six singles matches, the Toreros swept the Titans, snagging an impressive 7-0 victory. UCLA proved to be a much tougher opponent for the Toreros, however, as the No. 3 ranked Bruins defeated USD 0-7. After their first weekend of competition, the Toreros will have to settle for a 1-1 record to begin their season. 

Going into Friday’s contest against the Titans, it had been nearly a year since the women’s tennis team competed on their home courts. But despite the lengthy offseason and the hardships that accompanied training during a global pandemic, the Toreros showed promise for a highly successful 2021 season. 

Head coach Sherri Stephens felt that her team would have to play catch up against two teams that had already gotten some matches under their belt. 

“Both of the teams that we played had already played several matches,” Stephens said. “We haven’t really been out on the court in full, healthy condition … so we were behind as far as conditioning a little bit, and a little bit of toughness.” 

During their absence from the court, USD acquired their highest ranked recruiting class in the program’s history, coming in at No. 14 nationally. The addition of first years Elisabeth Andryukhova, Abigail Desiatnikov, and Jordyn McBride suggest a bright future for the University of San Diego’s women’s tennis program. The Toreros also picked up a talented sophomore from Zutendaal, Belgium, Victoria Kalaitzis. 

The Toreros also returned several of their key players from last season including captain and redshirt fourth year Kati Kukaras, and two players who received preseason ranking from the International Tennis Association — redshirt first year Elizabeth Goldsmith, ranked no. 124, and redshirt sophomore Solymar Colling, ranked no. 61. Along with being named the first All-American for the Toreros since 2011 her freshman year, Colling was named to the All-West Coast Conference preseason team for 2021. 

Colling and Goldsmith led the doubles lineup for the Toreros against the Titans, as they faced off against senior Eira Tobrand and sophomore Misaki Kobayashi. Kukaras and redshirt junior Maria Tyrina took on sophomore Camila Garcia and first year Natalie Duffy on court two, followed by USD’s Andryukhova and redshirt first year Jessi Muljat against Fullerton’s senior Taylor Valenzuela and junior YuSeung Suh. 

In the best-of-three round of doubles matches, the winner would secure the first overall point for their team. Colling and Goldsmith finished first, with a dominating 6-1 victory, followed closely by Kukaras and Tyrina who clinched the doubles point, defeating their opponents 6-2. 

Ahead 1-0 in the overall score, the Toreros entered the singles round with all the momentum over the Titans. The All-American Colling took on Kobayashi on the top court, followed by Goldsmith against Tobrand on court two. McBride faced Suh on court three, with Kukaras facing Duffy on court four. Rounding out the lineups for both teams were Kalaitzis against Fullerton’s first year Juliette Daries, followed by Muljat versus Garcia on court six.

The Titans proved to be no match for the Toreros as USD refused to surrender a single set in all six matches. Colling made quick work of Kobayashi, securing USD’s second point with her 6-0, 6-2 victory. Goldsmith won the third point for the Toreros after defeating Tobrand 6-3, 6-2. McBride finished soon after, taking down Suh 6-2, 6-2, clinching the match for the Toreros. After the remaining three matches concluded, the USD women’s tennis team emerged victorious with an impressive 7-0 victory. 

Stephens was happy with her team’s performance, but still saw room for improvement.

“They were very, very nervous because they hadn’t played in a year,” Stephens said. “But I felt like we handled the pressure pretty well, and did what we had been training to do, and I thought we beat them very soundly.”

But USD had little time to celebrate their victory as they were set to take on a significantly tougher opponent in No. 3 UCLA the next day.

After their decisive victory against the Titans, Colling felt her team was confident going into their match against the Bruins.

“We were pretty confident,” Colling said. “We were all really excited to play Cal State Fullerton because we wanted a warm up match, almost, before UCLA, and I think we were all just excited for the opportunity to play them.” 

USD went with a similar doubles roster for their second match of the weekend, with McBride and Desiatnikov substituted in for Andryukhova and Muljat. They would be facing off against UCLA’s senior Abi Altick and junior Taylor Johnson on court three. Colling and Goldsmith took on sophomore Abbey Forbes and graduate student Jada Hart on court one, followed by Kukaras and Tyrina against seniors Annette Goulak and Vivian Wolff. 

The Bruins dominated the doubles round. Goulak and Wolff snatched the first win over Kukaras and Tyrina 6-3. Altick and Johnson’s subsequent victory over Desiatnikov and McBride clinched the doubles point for UCLA. Colling and Goldsmith finished shortly after, losing to Forbes and Hart 6-4. 

Down 0-1 entering the singles round, the Toreros would have to win on four courts to defeat the Bruins. But this would be no easy task as UCLA’s singles lineup was formidable, starting with No. 7 ranked Forbes to take on Colling on court one. On court two, Goldsmith was set to face Wolff, followed by McBride against Altick. Desiatnikov, who was not a part of the singles lineup against Fullerton, took on Goulak on court four with Kukaras versus Vagramov on court five. Finishing off the matchups was Kalaitzis against Johnson on court six.

The Toreros got a taste of their own medicine as they were only able to win a single set across all six courts. Goldsmith surrendered the second point to Wolff on court 2, 6-3, 6-3. Colling was unable to overcome the power of Forbes who secured the third point for the Bruins with her 6-4, 6-3 victory. The final nail in the Toreros’ coffin came from court three when Altick defeated McBride 6-3, 6-3. 

At the end of the day, the Bruins put on an impressive performance, defeating USD 7-0. 

Despite the loss, Stephens had a positive outlook on her team’s performance. 

“I have a team of fighters,” Stephens said. “I have a team of workhorses that are going to go out and fight for every point. We needed to be a little bit more confident and step up a bit more into the court. They were taking advantage of us too much. But the team saw it. We all saw it. So we are just going to go out and work hard and be ready to do that to someone else.”

The USD women’s tennis team emerged from their first weekend of competition 1-1. With both an impressive win and tough loss, the future of this generation of the Toreros is still uncertain, however, they will have a chance to improve their record in a week when they face a familiar opponent in the USC Trojans on Saturday Feb. 20. Their first match away will be a good test for the USD women, but no matter the result, Torero tennis fans can be confident that their women’s team is ready to compete and hungry for victory.