Doubles team Sammy Macias and Andy Stier battled through angry heckling from the crowd and still took home EC’s only win at the 2010 Ojai Valley Tournament last weekend.
“Tournaments such as Ojai can sometimes be really stressful both for my players and for me,” Van Kanegan, coach, said. “There is just so much going on that it’s hard to keep track of where everyone is and how they are all doing.”
It was the only match the team won, Stier said.
“Sammy and I dominated our first match with a 6-3 and a 6-1 win against a Sierra College team,” Stier said. “It was the second match against the Palomar College team that had gotten the best of us.”
Macias describes his incident against one of the Palomar players.
“About ten minutes into our second doubles match I made a call against one of the players that he considered a ‘bad call’,” Macias said. “He was so heated and kept yelling at us. I think it was his angry demeanor that got into our heads.”
Macias understands that some teams use intimidation as a form of mental abuse.
It is a fundamental that he has yet to learn.
“The season is coming to an end and I still can’t get into my opponent’s heads,” Macias said. “I’m just going to try to build up some steam and let it all out at the regional playoff.”
Tennis players are always looking for different ways to let out their aggression.
They find ways to attempt to be able to hit harder and move faster.
Macias hopes to take his losses at Ojai and use them as fuel for future matches.
“Our weekend at Ojai didn’t go as we expected, but just the experience of facing hard-hitting players was more than enough for the men,” Van Kanegan said. “It was a nice prep for regionals.”
The regional playoffs will begin today and end Saturday at Los Angeles Pierce College, Van Kanegan said.
“The only players who qualified to compete at the regional playoff were Usama Ehsan, Sammy Macias, Andy Stier, and Yang Hee Lee,” Van Kanegan said.
With the regular season over, the team will look to fare better in the regional playoffs.
The Ojai Valley Tournament is one of the biggest events in Southern California college tennis.
With teams from nearly every California State University and community college.
Only six Warriors from the team attended the Ojai Tournament, including Stier, Macias, Usama Ehsan, Steven Sato, Kyle Bak and Kevin Buenaventura.
All of the matches at Ojai, from singles and doubles, were not complete losses.
Every player gave it their all but were still not able to handle their opponents to their fullest ability, Van Kanegan said.
“Kevin [Bak] and Kyle [Buenaventura] probably had the best time out there on the court even though they didn’t win their doubles match,” Van Kanegan said. “They faced one of the toughest teams from College of the Desert.”
Coach Van Kanegan said he plans to work the men hard before heading out today.
“I know for a fact that these guys are capable of winning but if anything I hope they have fun trying,” Van Kanegan said.