Ten matches into the season, the Cal Poly women’s tennis team has a winning record (7-3) and are nationally ranked at No. 66 — only dropping two spots since the season opener.
This success is expected when taking a look at the team’s past winning records (last year at this point in the season the team was 4-1, 1-1). The difference is, this year the team’s upperclassmen are outnumbered 7-to-3 by underclassmen.
Head coach Hugh Bream said having a majority of young players will work in the team’s favor this season and in the long run.
“It’s really a great, young foundation,” Bream said. “From everything I see, they love the sport, and they’re willing to put in a lot of hard work. It’s a tremendous foundation for future.”
The most effective way to build upon this foundation and grow as a team is to accept tough losses and learn from the mistakes made, Bream said. And these lessons are most effective when learned early in the season.
The three losses on the record were served up early by nationally-ranked teams, stacked with upperclassmen. The team fell to No. 1 ranked Stanford, followed by No. 29 UNLV and just this past week, No. 7 UCLA.
“I think when we played Stanford we rushed a little in between points, and got rattled and out of our game style — but we competed with heart,” Bream said. “When we played UCLA, we were much more composed and focused between points. We maintained our game styles, using our players’ strengths.”
Stanford has four upperclassmen and UCLA has five. Despite these losses, everything the Mustangs have accomplished thus far proves that age doesn’t necessarily translate into talent on the court.
“We have all the hope in the world and no expectations,” Bream said. “I think that can work in our favor. We’re not expecting to be the best, but our goal is to be most improved.”
Bream said many of the improvements can be attributed to the returning players. They trained hard over the summer to come back and fill the top positions on the team, which were previously filled by four seniors.
For example, sophomore Alexa Lee advanced from No. 5 last year to No. 1 this season. Also, senior captain Ashley Pane moved from No. 7 to No. 2 or 3 this season, Bream said.
Pane is an example of the hard work the team put in to succeed, and she sees this dedication in teammates as well. Pane said every day, every girl is competing her hardest to earn a spot in the lineup.
“We have this thing called ‘ACE score’ — attitude, concentration and effort,” Pane said. “(It’s when) you put in 100 percent of your heart, concentration and focus to have the most positive attitude every day on the court; just working hard every day to get one day better.”
The ACE score-philosophy is small achievements the team can focus on when preparing for games. Especially when preparing to face the other two nationally ranked Big West teams — No. 69 UC Irvine and No. 49 Long Beach State.
“We try and not focus on the team we’re playing,” Pane said. “We try to focus on how we want to play, and what attitude and effort we want to put in that day. It doesn’t matter what team it is, we still want to play at our highest performance against every team, every time.”
Playing hard and focusing on day-to-day improvements is something the young team excels at, said former player and current assistant coach Suzie Matzenauer.
“Every match they are learning so much,” Matzenauer said. “They always have good efforts and attitudes and every day they get better.”
Compared to last year, Matzenauer is happy to see the leadership roles filled by returning players, which have grown a lot in their play since last year, she said.
For Bream, who is entering his eleventh year of coaching for Cal Poly, the youth on the team isn’t an advantage or a disadvantage. It is just another element he takes into account. It reminds him of the team in 2003 who won the Big West and advanced to the NCAA championships, he said.
“That year we started three freshmen,” Bream said. “That team, like this team, was super competitive. They were really going to go out and play their hardest in every match. They played their best tennis in the Big West championships and at NCAAs. I believe that will happen with this young team as well.”
“We’ll just have to see how things unfold here,” Bream said.