With the difficult season over, the Warriors can now focus on their own individual placement in the SCC tournament in Long Beach, where individuals played for regional qualifications.
For the women, another setback occurred when Lucy Rivera, the No. 3 player, was obligated to abandon the team because of ineligibility problems.
“Everyone had been trying to pick up the slack because you really do not expect things like that to happen,” Nicole Gudeau said. “But we’re still moving forward.”
The good news for the men and women was the five total individual qualifiers for regional and the four doubles teams that made it.
For the men’s team, No. 1 player Tsuyoshi Nagaoko, team captain Clark Coble and No. 3 player Keith Boggero qualified with all three men’s doubles team qualifying.
For the women’s team, No. 1 player Lateefa Brown and No. 2 player Kacy Turner were able to qualify in both the individuals and doubles categories.
“We wanted to have two men qualify and all three of our doubles qualify,” coach Steve VanKanegan said. “I knew the women would struggle, but they worked well together.”
What’s next for the Warriors is the Ojai Tournament, where both teams will look to continue a trend of consistency and improvement built from the offseason.
“I felt we played better and improved from the offseason, just practicing and playing with each other,” Keith Boggero, No. 3 player, said. “I definitely gained more confidence throughout the season.”
The tournament’s seeding was based on the season ranks for every team and had Tsuyoshi as the No. 2 seed overall with team captain Clark Coble at No. 4, with both teams having had a good chance to win it all.
“I felt that Tsuyoshi had a real good probability to win it all, both him and Clark,” VanKanegan said. “Lateefa was the favorite for her matchup but her opponent was more patient than her and Kacy added spin to her shot so she can play any person in a match.”
During the women’s season, there was a lot of inconsistency but the team continued their positive attitude and outlook for the future.
“”Everything we’ve been through, we get along because of our passion for the game,” Lateefa Brown, the No. 1 player on the women’s team, said.
For the men’s season, the squad has been reflecting on how much confidence and improvement was gained, especially since it started the year with little expectations to be among the elite.
“The team is very good and if we just play our game, we’ll do fine,” Chris Bohlmann said. “Our doubles broke out this year and was recognized beyond our top three guys.”
