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The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

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SBCC women’s tennis comes up short in State Tournament

SBCC+womens+tennis+comes+up+short+in+State+Tournament
James Von Essen

Women’s tennis wrapped up its surprising journey to the State tournament this weekend after coming up short in the Round of 32 at the Ojai Tournament CCCAA Women’s Tennis State Championships.

The tournament began with doubles team Josephine Pulver and Pia Valtierra sliding right by Jolene Beaulieu and Mikah Kahler of Riverside with a 6-0, 6-1 win. The duo then went on to surprise sixth-seeded Carlee Ellis and Angelica Gagliano of De Anza with a 6-4, 4-6, 12-10 win in the tiebreaker.

“It was a huge upset to say the least,” says Pulver. “I was very happy with the way I played in singles and doubles.”

Pulver finished her final season of eligibility at the college with pride, saying that her only losses of the weekend were to extremely talented players from some of the best schools in the state.

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Valtierra was the only singles player from City College to make it past the first round, with a victory over Chabot College’s Sophia Moeckelmann. She then lost to number two seed Lisa Suzuki of Cerritos College with a final score of 6-0, 6-0.

Head coach Christina Klein said that together, the team handled the pressure very well. “They just came up against some tough competition,” said Klein. “The biggest match was Josephine Pulver and Pia Valtierra upsetting the number 6 seed from the North. Overall, everyone performed as expected.”

Katelyn Peyvandi and Gabrielle Goss, seeded 12th of 80 doubles teams, beat Alycia Franklin and Madelein Liljekvist of Grossmont 6-1, 6-0. The duo then advanced to the Round of 32, and lost to Sara Le Boulenge and Jo Ann Taylor of Orange Coast after a long 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 tiebreaker.

“It was a really close match, but we played amazing,” said Peyvandi. “I’m really happy with how we grinded and our high intensity throughout every match. Gabby and I mesh really well as a doubles team, so i’ll miss her a lot next year.”

Pulver and Valtierra also lost their doubles match on Friday, with a final score of 6-2, 6-2 against No. 11 seeded Diviana Bravo and Itzi Torres of Cerrito’s, last year’s state champion.

The Vaqueros end the tennis season with a 14-5 overall win-loss record, and 12-2 in conference, which is no small feat for a team of that size. Pulver and Goss, the two sophomores on the team of seven players, have both played their last matches as Vaqueros. They will both move on to other schools next semester.

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