El Paisano

Issue date: 2/21/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Amelia Nocete Rio Hondo's tennis team Coach Karen Unger, Stephanie Tang, Patty Conchas, Delia Lara, Saori Hanammure, Krystal Garcia, Jeana Steele and Valerie Murillo.

Media Credit: Amelia Nocete Karen Unger coach of the women's tennis team.

Although they lost to visiting Ventura on Feb.13 the Rio Hondo women's tennis team won against Fullerton, also a visiting team two days after the previous event.

The team played nine matches on each event, six on the singles and three on the doubles. Rio Hondo won two singles matches to Ventura and lost one doubles match against Fullerton.

The team had a rough time against Ventura, the winners of last year's conference.

Player Patty Conchas said that Ventura was a hard team but she and her partner's lack of teamwork was what probably kept them from winning the doubles match.

"We still need to keep learning on how to work as a team and to be more consistent next time,"Conchas said.

Same thing goes for Saori Hanamure who admitted that she and her partner were quite intimidated for they already knew how Ventura played.

But she took it as a challenge. "It is good practice," she said.

She was also optimistic saying, "We're pretty sure that we're going to beat all the rest of the teams this year."

Immediately two days after their loss the team was able to regain its confidence and strength back when it played against Fullerton.

But Krystal Garcia had it all along. After winning her match with a 6-1 score on both games against Ventura, the aggressive playe performed her best by winning against Fullerton's Melissa Pyper.

The two played a close match and were the only ones who ended with a third game. Despite having her knee badly bruised Garcia still managed to beat Pyper with a 10-6 score in the end.

The team's number one player Valerie Murillo said that she was more vigilant on her opponent this time compared to the previous match she had.

When asked on how being number one affects her she replied, "Not much. It doesn't affect the way I think or play. My opponents could always be better."

Garcia's partner and the team's number two player Jeanna Steele was also satisfied with the way she played that day winning in both singles and doubles matches. She is positive that the team is going to play better this year. "I think we will be more prepared since we've had more games now."

Besides having more games, another thing that could contribute in the team's success is Rio Hondo's support for funding. Conchas thinks that Rio Hondo has been fairly supportive "but still I think they could do better" she said. Coach Karen Unger would rather not answer the question when asked regarding how much support the team is receiving from Rio Hondo.

This season she will be focusing on getting to know her team better since she only has one returning player and the rest are all new.

"I still need to learn what their strengths and weaknesses are, and I hope I could bring out the best in them," she said.



"They are great kids. We've got work to do but we have plenty of time."

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