Jillian Dineros was very confident going into the matches about to play against a tough Mt. San Antonio College team; she won both the singles and doubles matches last time against the same team.
This time out, she did not play as nearly as well, as Dineros ended both her matches with a pair of losses.
“Maybe for doubles I think I was a little bit too confident. For my singles, I just wasn’t prepared,” Dineros said.
“It was a tiring match. Both of us were hitting so hard that we were both off the courts,” Dineros said referring to her singles match.
“She played very well and she was very consistent but the girl was just a little too strong,” coach Steve Van Kanegan said. “Jill lost 6-4, 6-4, you don’t get much closer than that.”
Unfortunately for them, she was not the only to leave the court with a loss as the team ended the day 6-3.
The Warriors will play Cypress Thursday at home at 2 p.m., which was rescheduled due to a rainout.
“We practiced for this day and even though we lost we were happy with the result because we were all focused and worked really hard,” Mio Hosaka said.
Mt. SAC has only one loss this season which was against Santa Monica College.
“Their whole team is experienced. Every player on their team has played in tournaments, high school tennis, and they are very consistent,” Van Kanegan said.
“Several of the matches that we lost were very close so maybe on a different day we would have won those matches,” he said.
The Warriors needed to win this game to have a chance at being the conference champions.
“We were hoping to have better results for this past match but we didn’t win so we are just going have to shoot for second, which is better than last year,” Dineros said.
Last year the women’s tennis team was last in the conference.
“It’s the first time we were ever in last place but this year’s team is much more improved,” Van Kanegan said.
With the women now aiming for second place the team will continue working on its skills.
“We need to keep working on what we’ve been working on and that is trying to get consistent, trying to use our spin, trying to play smarter on the tennis court and just trying to be mentally tough,” Van Kanegan said.
Content with how the season has been going, the team will continue to battle, Hosaka said.
“Even though we might not be able to be the conference champions we’re not let down, and we’re not going to change how we’ve worked till this day, so we are still going to keep doing our best,” Hosaka said.
