Collin College Tennis kept swinging during spring break, and their coach says the opportunities are starting to show results. He believes more individual accomplishments are possible as long as the team maintains a positive mental attitude.
"On the men's side, we have turned a bit of a corner," Coach Jamie Nanez said. "We are going into some matches thinking we can play with the best."
The men's team picked up big wins against Pratt Community College, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Tyler Junior College (TJC), and William Jewell College out of Missouri. The team played well against Southern Arkansas and Nanez said they had a strong chance of taking a team victory against the Top 25 DII NCAA team. However, the final matches got rained out. At the Tyler Invitational, the team lost against Cowley County Community College and Eastern Florida State College.
Nanez said the victories fueled the players' drive and confidence.
"I think we are showing up and not backing down from a challenge," he said. "We are expecting to win."
The women's team also picked up a couple of wins against Pratt and Mississippi Gulf Coast, though they did have losses against TJC, Cowley, and William Jewel. That last team match against William Jewell was close, with the Cardinals winning by just one point.
Nanez said the team is trying to keep a positive and aggressive mindset on the court while keeping the players working hard in practice and improving their fitness.
"For people outside looking at the scores, the positivity is not totally apparent," Nanez said. "We just have to look at the positives."
He pointed to a close match from Ekaterina Orlova and the consistently tough play of Sophia Dalla as examples of the attitude he wants the team to take into its matches. He said Dalla "has just become a bulldog of a player and plays two- or three-hour matches."
The team is looking to build on their recent progress and Coach Nanez is confident that more wins against other junior colleges will help propel them towards nationals and develop a winning mindset.
"I think it is just attitude," he said, adding that he wants the players to go into a match thinking, "This is us. This is what we are doing. And we are going to surprise you."