Women’s tennis travelling team before before their match against Seattle University.
This past weekend the UBC TSC Women’s Tennis Team headed down south to Seattle to compete against two NCAA teams: the Seattle University Redhawks and the Whitman College Blues. Overall, the Thunderbirds came back with split results with a tough 0-7 loss to the Redhawks and a strong 5-4 win over the Blues.
Following an early drive across the border Friday morning, the team faced off against the Seattle University Redhawks at the Amy Yee Tennis Center. This match was the Thunderbirds’ debut against a NCAA Division 1 team. The matches started out with doubles, which, despite strong efforts by No. 1 team Jessica Silva and Madi Fan and No. 3 team Michelle Lim and Izzy Evans, were lost 6-4 and 6-2, respectively. Thus, the doubles points were taken by the Redhawks. In singles, the team started off strong with neck to neck first sets across all courts, yet No.1 Silva and No. 3 Sara Zupanc fell 6-7 and 5-7, respectively. Despite promising starts, the Redhawks took each of the singles matches, sealing their win. Overall, the Thunderbirds held their ground and proved to be formidable opponents.
Players cheering on No. 5 Sofia Kresta during the UBC vs Whitman match.
On Saturday morning, the team came back with a force against the Whitman Blues at the Jupiter Tennis Centre. At No. 3 doubles, Evans and Lim took the first win 8-2 over Hannah Worden and Katie Pak. However, doubles courts No. 1 and No. 2 each fell just short with 6-8 losses, ending doubles down 1-2. The Thunderbirds fought back in singles; Zupanc earned the first singles point, taking her match 6-4, 7-5 against Camilla Laprey-Schwed at the No. 3 position. On court No. 2, Fan dropped a tight 6-2,6-4 match against Andrei Fukushige, while No. 6 Sofia Kresta fell short to Jennifer Wong 4-6,7-6(8),6-4 in a three hour battle. Soon after, on court No. 1 and court No. 6, Silva and Abi Heninger evened out the scoreboard to 4-4, capturing their matches in roller coaster three setters against Andrea Gu and Hannah Worden, respectively. After another three set grinder, Lim secured the winning point, taking her match 3-6,6-3,6-3 against Irene Tsai, capturing the 5-4 win for the Thunderbirds. All players proved their physical and mental strength with their ability to fight through long matches and finish on top. No. 6 and upperclassman Heninger shared her thoughts on the Whitman match: “I’m proud of the way our team performed today and it was great to see so many of our athletes battling through challenging matches. Our team is looking in good shape heading into Westerns.”
The Thunderbirds are now practicing hard for the Western Canadian Championships in Edmonton on March 1st where they will take on the University of Alberta Pandas for a spot at the 2020 National Championships. Stay updated with the latest by following the teams’ social media below!