Saddleback ends losing streak with conference win

Saddleback’s team captain Ashley Glick hits a serve toward her Orange Coast College opponent in Thursday’s matchup. (Nick Nenad/Lariat)

The Saddleback College women’s tennis team defeated Orange Coast College, 5-3 on Thursday. After a four-game losing streak before Thursday match, the Gauchos finally got the win they needed and it was in conference play.

Saddleback’s head coach, Jay Amos, attributed the losses and poor play to injuries that caused him to move players up to spots they weren’t necessarily ready for.

“We went on a losing streak, because we were missing a couple of players.” Amos said.

Saddleback played well to start the season, before they went on their losing streak. The Gauchos got two close victories against Grossmont College and Santa Barbara City College and they blew out Cuyamaca College, 9-0 to start the season 3-0.

The Gauchos lost their first singles match, which involved team captain Ashley Glick, 6-2, 6-2, but went on to win four consecutive matches after that to take a big early lead. OCC won the final singles contest 6-2, 6-3 to end the winning streak, but Saddleback had 4-2 lead after all was said and down.

Moving on to doubles, the Gauchos again lost the first contest badly 8-2, but came back and won the next match, 8-3 and the rubber match, 8-5 to secure a victory in doubles and a win in the overall match.

During the match, Amos said that the reason the team had a chance to win was because they were very balanced between their doubles and singles players. He ultimately believed that doubles had a slight edge.

“It’s a pretty balanced team, but I think that our doubles is really strong though,” Amos said. “We should be strong all the way down [the lineup] in doubles.”

Amos also said that Saddleback’s No. 1 doubles team, Glick and Dominique Willette were ‘”going to be a tough out for anybody they play.” Ironically, Glick and Willette lost their doubles match against OCC.

The Gauchos followed up the OCC victory with a 5-4 loss to Ventura College. From here on out, Saddleback will play conference opponents. When asked about if he stresses winning conference games over non-conference games, Amos gave an interesting response.

“I never talk about winning, I talk about getting better,” Amos said. “I tell the girls that the only player that they have to be better than, is the player they were yesterday.”

The next opponent the Gauchos will face is Cypress College on the road at 2 p.m.

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