Collin College Women's Tennis had a home series of three matches March 1-2. Despite team losses, Coach Jamie Nanez said the team is finding its way, and some players are buying into the style of play he wants from them.

A rain delay pushed the Lady Cougars' game against St. Petersburg College from Feb. 19 to March 1, so Collin played the Lady Titans and the Weatherford College Lady Coyotes on the same day.

Collin lost 5-4 to Weatherford but showed some strength from individual players.

"We did pretty well in singles, but it is hard to win four out of five singles," Nanez said. "The doubles points make a big difference. We didn't play doubles the way we wanted to in that match."

The team lost 8-1 to St. Petersburg, but Nanez also saw some bright spots in that match. He noted that Jinsol Yang, a freshman who started this fall, performed well against them. She beat the Titans' No. 4. Yang had lost to Weatherford's No. 4 the previous day, but Nanez said it was close, and he thinks Yang could have beaten her. She would go on to a tiebreaker at No. 3 against Tyler Junior College (TJC), the team's third opponent of the series.

That match would go 7-2 overall, with Ekaterina Orlova winning one of the team's two victories against TJC. Nanez said that Orlova has shown some of the mental toughness that he wants out of his players, both against St. Petersburg and TJC. Nanez said Orlova pushed back hard, playing long points and pushing them to their breaking point. He said that her opponent from St. Petersburg had to catch her breath after virtually every point because they went so long.

He said he wants the players to give that subliminal message: "I'm here, and I am not going anywhere, so you better get ready for a fight."

"It's not necessarily about who is the most talented or who executes the most," Nanez said. "It's about who will fight the hardest for every point."

Nanez also noted Sophia Dalla's toughness on the court.

"She was just battling," he said. "That's the exact style we are trying to get her to play. She has been good at implementing what we want her to work on."

Overall, the team has responded well to the first part of the schedule in which the university teams have been much stronger.

"I think that if we just get a little more experience in those pressure situations, we can surprise some people," Nanez said.