The men's and women's tennis teams continue to battle tough teams in a tight schedule. Coach Santiago Nanez believes the heavy play now will pay benefits at nationals.
Both teams played against Cameron University on Feb. 9. Sophomores Joseph Restrepo, Djordje Kurcubic, and Viktoriia Federova each won their singles matches, while the doubles teams of Federova/Ekaterina Orlova and Larissa Giraldi Correa/Jhastine Red Ballado won their matches.
Nanez said he continues to see improvement from both the men's and women's doubles, although there is room for improvement.
Overall team scores were a 3-4 loss for the women and a 2-5 loss for the men.
"Cameron is a great team," Nanez said. "As a team, we always talk about how we want to represent Collin and compete hard. We did that well, so we were happy about that."
The women started National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) match play the next day and over the weekend with Saint Petersburg College, Tyler Junior College (TJC), and Weatherford College.
"We played very well in singles across the whole team," Nanez said. "Both St. Pete and TJC are top nationally ranked teams, so coming out and playing them as close as we did, is really great."
Orlova and Sofia Gonzalez each won a match against St. Petersburg, with close matches by Giraldi and Federova. The overall score was a 2-7 loss. Giraldi, Federova, and Gonzalez each picked up a win against TJC, but the team score was 3-6.
The team picked up its second win of the season against Weatherford College with an overall score of 7-2, though Nanez said it was close for a while. In doubles, Federova/Margaryta Bugaienko had an 8-3 win. Federova, Giraldi, and Orlova each picked up wins in singles play.
"We still have some work to do in doubles," Nanez said. "We came out slow, but kept competing and eventually got the win.
"I think there was a bit of fatigue during that Saturday match. To come off of three matches in two days and then have to go out and play the next day is a tough schedule."
He said he hopes that back-to-back matches now will help prepare the teams for nationals in April.
"There, we will have to play singles in the morning and doubles in the afternoon, and if we win, we will have to play three, four, or hopefully five days in a row. It was good to see the girls respond well to the adversity and get that win after a long couple of days."