The Cal Poly women’s tennis team has one goal in mind this season: to place first at the Big West Conference.
The last time the team placed first in the Big West was in 2003, and assistant coach Andy Gerst thinks that Cal Poly has the potential to break Long Beach State’s first-place run.
“The Big West title is the most important thing to us,” Gerst said. “That’s our main goal for this year. These past years, we’ve had really solid teams in our conference.”
With tough competition, including Long Beach State, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly has fallen short for the past six years in claiming the title.
Senior co-captain Suzie Matzenauer thinks that Cal Poly is stronger than in previous years and has the best chance of taking first place.
“It feels like a brand new team, and we have so much talent and much more hard work this year,” Matzenauer said.
Four returning seniors, including the two captains, Matzenauer and Brittany Blalock, and the addition of five new team members offers a good mixture of experience and fresh vigor.
“We’ve got some new blood with the five new players, and they all bring a good energy to the team,” Gerst said.
Two of the five new players are transfers and the other three are freshman, including Alexa Lee, who is a five-star recruit and ranked in the top 15 in Southern California.
Lee, who is from Palm Desert, Calif., has been playing tennis since she was 9 and hopes to add a lot to the team, both in play and in attitude.
“I’m pretty aggressive and I hope that my style comes together with the team so that we win matches and do well (in the) Big West,” Lee said.
Lee is also very impressed with her teammates’ skill level.
“There are a lot of seniors who have experience and can help the younger girls to work to their full potential,” Lee said.
Although Lee is enthused to join a team with such ability and motivation, the experience so far has taken some getting used to.
“My biggest challenge is going to be staying consistent and working to my 100 percent every single practice,” Lee said. “I’ve never been in an environment with so much intensity, so this is all very new for me.”
Equipped with a strong group of competitors, the women’s tennis team started off well at pre-qualifying games at the ITA All-American Championships Oct. 3, hosted at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Matzenauer set the bar high with a three-set victory against 86th-ranked Joanna Mather of Florida.
“It was very good for her to get a win right off the bat. She competed real hard,” Gerst said.
In addition, five players, including seniors Matzenauer, Blalock, Diane Filip, Jocelyn Davis and freshmen Lee and Ashley Pane reached the quarterfinal phase of their respective singles and doubles matches last Friday at the fall intercollegiate tournament hosted by Cal State Fullerton.
Cal Poly’s solid play in the first matches of the season demonstrates the women’s motivation and poise, Gerst said.
Lee stayed very active over the summer, playing in the women’s open at Cal Poly Pomona and in a Santa Maria tournament, hitting with her two brothers, who play for the UC Davis men’s tennis team, and working out with personal trainers.
Staying active over summer was key to coming into the fall season ready to go hard in practice, Gerst said.
The team practices six days a week and includes weight training, conditioning and skills practice in its weekly routine.
When it’s time to play its toughest competitors, however, Matzenauer finds an original outlet for her nerves.
“I like to dance around and listen to loud rap music with Jocelyn,” Matzenauer said. “We just sing and dance and get pumped up for the match. It takes away the anxiety and just gets you ready to play.”
While competition against teams such as Long Beach State are not for a few months, the team is gearing up for the Northwest Regional Championships, which will be held at Stanford from Oct. 23-26.