Experience with tough competition powers women’s tennis to victory

After facing tough opponents in its first three matchups, Chapman’s women’s tennis team bounced back with a 9-0 sweep of California Lutheran University April 3. Above, junior Tatum Phillips goes to hit a backhand shot in her singles match. Photo courtesy of Larry Newman

It’s safe to say Chapman’s women’s tennis team didn’t exactly come out of the gates flying in their 2021 season.

The team lost its first three matches. They scored, in total, a single point — losing one match by a score of 1-6 and the other two 0-7. 

But that didn’t tell the full story. All three initial opponents had a higher divisional status in the NCAA, a wide gap in terms of competition. In their first two games, Chapman played Azusa Pacific University and California State University, Fullerton — respectively a Division II and Division I school — and in its third game took on a Division II school in Concordia University Irvine. Chapman, however, is affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. 

“They play a bit more tactfully,” said senior Madison Ross of the team’s first three opponents. “They’re just a little more competitive as well.”

A return to a familiar level of competition brought about the Panthers’ first win of the season. The team routed California Lutheran University in a 9-0 sweep April 3. They won their next match April 9 against California Lutheran as well, beating the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent and fellow NCAA Division III team 5-4.

Ross won the fourth singles match April 3 in a tiebreaker — victorious in a first set 6-4, dropping the next 4-6 and clinching the point in a third set — and third doubles 8-4 alongside senior Vasilisa Trofimova. Ultimately, Ross believed the preparation against higher-level competition in previous matches was actually the key to her team’s subsequent success. 

“Most of us enjoyed having those first three matches to iron out kinks, because none of us have played matches in almost a year,” Ross said. “We needed those matches to get back into the swing of things.”

Coach Will Marino emphasized the importance of playing against higher-level competition to begin the year.

“Any time you get to play against a better opponent, it’ll make you better,” Marino said. “You’re better tomorrow than you were today and that helped us get ready for (California Lutheran).”

Freshman Olivia Desso was able to earn her first collegiate victories during the April 3 match. She won the fifth singles matchup, dominating two sets 6-0 and 6-1, then partnered with junior Tatum Phillips to take the first doubles match 8-5.

With the beginning of her collegiate career marked by three consecutive losses, the two convincing wins for her team were a welcome and invigorating change, Desso said.

“I was super excited to play our first conference match,” Desso said. “Since we’re playing (California Lutheran) the next few times, we wanted to come out and win the first match really badly to set the standard for how the next few matches are going to go.”

The rest of the way in the regular season, all of Chapman’s remaining matches come against California Lutheran. With the initial exposure to their SCIAC foe out of the way, the team hopes they can maintain its success with rematches on the horizon. 

“We need to stay focused and make sure we’re not getting complacent and (are) committed to getting better every day at practice,” Ross said. “As long as we stay focused, I think we’ll be good to go in these next three matches.”