Coming toward the end of the season, the women’s tennis team knows it is very close to earning a conference championship.

But the dream almost came to an end when it overlooked a weak opponent.

The Warriors will be on the road today when they play Marymount at 2 p.m. and finish the season Tuesday at Cerritos. With a win Tuesday, the tennis team can earn at least a share of the conference championship with a victory.

Marymount is not considered a threat, but the Warriors must defeat them to setup a showdown against Cerritos. A victory will give EC a share of the championship, or possibly make EC the outright conference champion should Cerritos lose before Tuesday.

“We are going to be physically and mentally tough for the Cerritos game,” coach Steve Van Kanegan said. “Cerritos is going to have to prove that they are better than we are.”

All of this was almost prevented on Tuesday, when the team had a lackluster performance against Long Beach City, whom it defeated, 8-1.

“(Long Beach City) played tough, so I needed to be more aggressive today,” Evetta Nettles said. “I need to play stronger and hit the ball harder.”

The Warriors seemed to not take Long Beach as seriously as they should have. Some of the players showed up late and decided not to warm up as much as they usually do.

It showed, because some of the Warriors needed three sets to win their single matches when it should have only taken two sets to defeat this weaker opponent.

“We thought the game was going to be a lot easier then it was,” asstistant coach Harue Williams said. “The girls were a little tight and did not play as well as they should have.”

Weather, combined with inactivity before the game could have also played a role.

“I had a slow start because it was cold,” Briana Dalo said. “It’s hard to play when the weather is cold as it was today.”

Dalo was one of three Warriors who needed three sets to win their single matches. She won 2-6, 6-4, and 6-4. The other two came from La Marano 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 and Kim Nguyen 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (12-10) who had the day’s most exciting match.

The Warriors’ other victories came from Michelle Morse 6-1, 6-3 and Nettles 6-2, 6-2. The doubles teams of Dalo/ Marano 8-5; Morse/ Tracy Kavanaugh 8-5; and Nguyen/ Nettles 8-4 also won.