By Jacob Norling
January 29, 2022
 
(NORTHRIDGE, Calif.) Westmont Women's Tennis opened their 2022 season on Saturday by competing against NCAA Div. I Cal St. Northridge. The Matador's defeated the Warriors 7-0.
 
Of the 19 games played in doubles, the Matadors took 18 of them, with Christine Hemry and Olivia Madarang being the lone Westmont duo able to pry a game from the home team. Jolene Coetzee and Isabel Fraile Toboso swept Rachal Jackson and Emily Peterson on court one, while on court two Magdalena Hedrrzak and Sasha Turchak took six of seven games from Hemry and Madarang.
 
Ekaterina Repina and Yuliia Zhytelna won all six games against Francesca Aguirre and Sophia Osotvany on the third court.
 
"In doubles, our players did a good job of communicating and adjusting to their opponents," said Westmont associate head coach Cade Pierson. "As always, we came in with the intent to execute our offensive moves first. In preparation for this match we also spent extra time working on reacting, neutralizing the point, and shifting from offense to defense and back to offense.
 
"With that said, our women continued problem solving, communicating, and applying different strategies until the very last point. We made them earn every point."
 
In singles, Jackson put up the best fight for the Warriors as she fell to Repina on court one 6-2, 6-4. On court two, Coetzee defeated Peterson 6-0, 6-1, and on court three, Fraile Toboso bested Aguirre 6-1, 6-3.
 
Hedrzak came out victorious over Hemry by a score of 6-2, 6-3 on court four, and Turchak came on top over Madarang on court five by a score of 6-1, 6-0.
 
On court six, Ostovny fell 6-3, 6-1 to Zhytelna.
 
"In singles, I was really satisfied with the level that our team performed at," said Pierson. "Every court, regardless of the score, did a good job problem solving throughout the match. They each went in with a plan they were confident in and committed to, and applied different strategies as needed.
 
"They fought hard with composure and intention without appearing frantic or desperate. We may have lost, but we lost playing our game and playing solid tennis. We intentionally schedule these high-level division one teams at the start of the season. These matches set the tone and a standard for the rest of our season. I'm excited to take what we learned in this match and apply it in the future."