Rio Hondo College Newspaper

El Paisano

Rio Hondo College Newspaper

El Paisano

Rio Hondo College Newspaper

El Paisano

Women’s tennis team wins in Fullerton

The Rio Hondo women’s tennis team rallied to defeat Imperial Valley College, 8-1, on Friday, Feb. 13 at Fullerton College. Coach Karen Unger was very impressed with her team as many of the matches went to three sets and said that her team, “Played their hearts out.” Coach Unger was pleased with her teams performance over the past two weeks stating that, “The girls have really stepped up to the challenge after our number two [Alicia Villarino] singles player, who is also half of our number one doubles team has been out due to injury.”

Freshman Jessica Diaz had big shoes to fill as she was promoted into the number two ranking among the team where she defeated the number two seed at IVC. Having a key player out of their lineup had little effect on the outcome of the match as they emerged victorious. The Lady Roadrunner Tennis team returned only two sophomores from the previous season and added eight freshmen for the 2015 season.

The team has already competed in eight matches this season, with two of them being scrimmages against Fullerton College and San Diego Mesa College. The team’s first pre-season match was against Antelope Valley College where the Roadrunners emerged victorious. Rio Hondo then travelled to Mt. San Jacinto where they earned another victory over the Lady Eagles. Unfortunately the team fell in their next two matches against two of the top teams in Southern California, Cypress and Mount San Antonio College.

The team has a record of 3-2, which has coach Unger optimistic about the season ahead. The South Coast Conference is packed with powerhouse teams such as Cerritos College, Mt. San Antonio College, and El Camino College; some of the most competitive teams in California. The Lady Roadrunners are up to the challenge; it is much too early to count anyone out.

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Coach Unger is extremely happy with the team’s cohesion and proud of each player on her team, “I am pleased with the climate on the team and I truly like all of my players quite a bit.” Sophomore Mindy Lujan is in her second year with the team and is excited to see what the rest of the season has to bring.

Lujan said, “We all get along very well, we have become great friends throughout the preseason and I am proud to call these girls my teammates”. Unger is excited to see what the season has in store for her team and expects them to continue improving through the next couple of weeks, and have Alicia Villarino make a speedy recovery.

The Lady Roadrunners team will play on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at home against College of the Desert where the team looks to improve on their 3-2 record.

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