NICOLE ALBERTSON
Staff Writer
The Pepperdine women’s tennis team suffered a disheartening Saturday as it fell to No.-24 Fresno State. Despite winning the doubles point, Fresno took advantage of Pepperdine’s generosity and referee’s bad calls.
Doubles teams No. 1 Eva Dickes and Sylvia Kosakowski and No. 2 Bianca Dulgheru and Katia Sabate dominated the courts winning their matches 8-5 and 8-0. The duo of Dickes and Kosakowski defeated their opponents with great ease.
“They beat a very good team,” said Head Coach Gualberto Escudero. “And Eva isn’t even sharp yet.”
Signs pointed in the direction of an overall win for Pepperdine with the doubles point, but the overwhelming defeat of 5-1 in the singles matches brought the Waves’ season record down to 4-3.
“It was a horrible day,” Dulgheru said. “There was no motivation to play. I think we were really down mentally.”
While the majority of the singles courts showed Pepperdine winning the first sets in each match, the Aaves seemed to throw in the racket and give up in the second sets.
After winning the first set, No.-2 Kosakowski battled through the second but lost the tiebreaker 7-6 and was forced into a third round. Kosakowski didn’t have the mental energy in the third set to keep it going, Escudero said.
Another defeat occurred when a controversial referee call at the 6-6 tiebreaker led to the downfall of No. 4 Dickes against Fresno’s Vanessa Heroux.
“We are used to the bad calls,” Dulgheru said. “A couple of years ago I would scream at them, but now you just accept it.”
Although Dickes had a strong performance in doubles with Kosakowski, her lack of recent play time showed when she was not able to hold on to her first set lead resulting in her singles loss.
No.-1 singles player Dulgheru continued the disappointment as she lost to Fresno’s No. 4 player 6-2, 6-2.
“Psychologically I wasn’t there,” Dulgheru said. “I wasn’t ready to fight.”
Going against the trend, No. 6 Tania Rice pulled in the only singles win for Pepperdine dominating the court in both sets 6-2, 6-1.
Caroline Raba’s absence did not help the team’s motivation. While she has been suffering from a wrist injury this season, this week she was forced to see a chiropractor for a sore back. Her absence does allow for freshman players like Jill Braverman and Anete Bandere to gain experience on the court. But since her improvement at the Indoor Championship, the team is missing her athletic contributions at matches.
Traveling this week to battle rivals Loyola Marymount, the Waves are looking to change their spirits and build their confidence with a win. Escudero is putting his effort forward to make practices exciting and remain positive about the upcoming match.
“We need to play smarter tennis,” Escudero said.
Bringing the players back to the basics, he said he is trying to focus on playing offensively and making more aggressive shots. This includes working on power, speed and attitude. The defensive attitude of the past has been breeched – not only against Fresno but also at the Indoor Championship in Wisconsin – and will now be remolded for a more successful season.
“It’s hard to get up and forget about it,” said Dulgheru. “If you don’t have the desire to win, you are not going to.”
Escudero said he believes Pepperdine will be back on the winning track for the Loyola Marymount match-up this weekend, and future game against Southern California.
“We are going to take it out on LMU,” Escudero said. “I want to get some greatness out of them for USC.”
The women’s tennis team will be rising to the occasion Saturday as it challenges West Coast Conference rival Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles at 1:30 p.m.
02-15-2007
