Streak continues for women's tennis

The Santa Monica College women's tennis team defeated the Antelope Valley Marauders, 9-0, at their home court Ocean View Park on Friday, pushing the team's winning streak to nine. Not only did the Lady Corsairs play the day before at Ventura College, but they were missing a few players, leaving them with only six available.

"I want to play every day; in this case, I might be able to improve faster," said freshman Kaori Tsuda.

Because of the shortage of players, the head coaches from both teams decided to begin with the doubles.

The Corsairs' pairs were Tsuda with Juliana Nelkin, Carmel Peterson and Ana Beatriz Barcelos de Souza, and Elin Hedberg and Karla Hernandez.

The Nelkin and Tsuda duo never gave their opponents a chance, winning the match, 8-0.

Peterson and de Souza won their match, 8-3.

In the third game, Hedberg and Hernandez had a 7-0 lead, and were only one game away from the winning match with a perfect 8-0. However, Antelope grabbed their last chance and came back to 7-2 before Hedberg and Hernandez could close the match at 8-2.

After the doubles, the singles took place.

Perhaps the match to watch was the last of the day, Hedberg against Antelope Valley's Crystal Aki. The combatants took turns winning sets, with many plays being returned over the net multiple times before a point could be scored.

It was Hedberg's first single for SMC.

The loss was the Marauders fourth in a row, and head coach Joe Watts had his theories about their struggles.

"We have a young team and we still need to figure things out," he said. "We start our conference play next week, and we have a better chance against those teams. We just have to keep plugging away."

He also pointed out that his team needs to cut down unforced errors and work on their serves.

"We are our own worst enemy," Watts said.

The Lady Corsairs' head coach Richard Goldenson said that good preparations made it for his team.

"The girls were strong enough to win today, even though people were missing," he said.

Tsuda advocated practice and good communication to keep the streak alive, and Goldenson stressed that the team can never be satisfied.

"We always need to improve," he said.

The Lady Corsairs take to the court next on Thursday at home against Santa Barbara City College at 1 p.m.