After securing a victory in its first game of the season, the San Diego State women’s tennis team couldn’t go back-to-back, falling to the University of San Diego 7-2 on March 7.
USD had experience on its side, as it has played seven matches this season compared to SDSU’s two.
Head coach Peter Mattera acknowledged SDSU’s lack of on-court time but didn’t discount USD’s overall skill.
“They were playing their seventh match and we were playing our second match,” Mattera said. “I thought we played extremely well given that it was our second match of the year against a tough opponent.”
The Toreros quickly took the doubles point as the freshman pair of Abigail Desiatnikov and Jordyn McBride took care of SDSU senior Abbie Mulbarger and freshman Alexandria von Tersch Porter 6-2 on court two.
Despite senior Nnena Nadozie and junior Regina Pitts winning the only doubles match for the Aztecs with a 6-4 over sophomore Victoria Kalaitzis and redshirt senior Kati Kukaras, senior Tamara Arnold and junior Alicia Melosch fell to redshirt sophomore Solymar Colling and redshirt freshman Elizabeth Goldsmith 6-4 on court one.
When on the court with the Toreros, Nadozie said she noticed the experience gap between the two teams concerning various aspects of the game.
“It was just that match play experience when we were playing,” said Nadozie. “It was more that you could tell that they had more experience when making deuce points and high percentage serves.”
Switching to singles play, the Scarlet and Black fared little better as they were defeated in each set.
Leading the charge was Colling and Goldsmith, who won both of their matches against Arnold (6-3, 6-1) and Pitts (6-2, 6-4). Colling and Goldsmith are both ranked in the Top 125 women’s players by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, with Colling ranking No. 61 and Goldsmith checking in at No. 124.
Nadozie, Melosch and sophomore Agustina Rimoldi Godoy each fell in two sets to McBride (6-2, 6-2), Kukaras (6-3, 6-3), and redshirt freshman Jessi Muljat (6-3, 6-1).
Only freshman Cecile Morin was able to advance her match to three sets. However, she was still defeated by Desiatnikov 1-6, 6-4, 3-6.
