Fullerton Women’s Tennis had lost three straight matches coming into their match against Saddleback on Wednesday. It was a must-win for the Hornets, as it was one of their last chances to gain momentum going into the OEC Tournament. It wouldn’t be easy, as Fullerton was missing key players. Coach Yolanda Duron had to make changes to the lineup that the team had been running with all season. With crucial decisions on her hands, Duron had to make the right call. She got those decisions right, as Fullerton won 7-2.
“I felt we really played like a team. Especially because we were missing our number two doubles team and our number three singles player. I really think we just showed up. We’ve been having some tough matches, but they played amazing,” said Duron.
The match was very well-rounded for Fullerton, as they had great success from the doubles teams and singles players. They won two out of three doubles sets. The line 1 team of Josie Miranda and Justine Koo won their set 8-4. The other win was from the line 3 team Kristal Mendoza and Kayla Herbert, who Duron just paired together right before the match started. Although the doubles teams gave the Hornets a hot start, singles is where it was proved that Fullerton was the better team, as multiple players came back from a deficit.
The Hornets put on a show in singles, winning five out of six matches. Even though they took the majority of the matches, Saddleback gave them a rough go and took a couple of sets to put some pressure on Fullerton.
Rae Jeffrey of Fullerton had a thriller of a match against Saddleback’s Averie Valverde. Jeffrey was on the ropes early as Valverde had gained a quick 3-0 lead. The games could have gone either way, but Jeffrey remained even-keeled by simply keeping balls in play deep into the court, which prevented Valverde from pressing the net. Within a short matter of time, Jeffrey flipped the script and was up 4-3. As Jeffrey hit a slice serve that Valverde couldn’t return, the first set was one point away from going in Jeffrey’s favor. With everything going her way, Jeffrey iced Valverde with a powerful backhand that was unreturnable to win the first set.
During the second set, Jeffrey found herself in a similar situation, being down 3-2. She used the same strategies to climb herself back in the set and picked the next two games off Valverde to go up 4-3. Relying on her backhands and slice serves, Jeffrey won both sets.
At that point in the match between Fullerton and Saddleback, Jeffrey had clinched the win for the Hornets.
“Whenever I started a deuce point instead of serving big, I tried to slice more because I could tell that she was most likely to hit the ball out when I did that,” said Jeffrey when asked what her effective decisions were.
Brooke Buser, the top player for the Bobcats, can normally put away sets like it’s nothing, as she has had great success throughout the season. On Wednesday, she faced a major competitor, having to square off against Miranda of the Hornets.
It was all Miranda in the first set, as she won 6-2. She thrived in turning defense into offense. All day, Miranda chased down balls with chip returns and then waited for the right time to hit passing groundstrokes and volleys, which got her a lot of points. In set two, something clicked for Buser, as she put the throttle down on Miranda to win 6-1. It was a complete shock, given the outcome of the first set.
Set 3 was down to the wire, with both players being the competitors they are, the points were not going to be given up easily. Buser was dominating the net early and forced Miranda to hit some difficult shots. Up 3-2, Buser looked confident in her serves and forehands that were getting more aggressive after each point. Later in the set, Miranda started to fend off Buser’s big serves with some chip shots that led to her hitting winners. After serving so well, Bruer double-faulted four times in one game and her momentum slipped away. Miranda got up 6-5, following three unforced errors by Bruer. With her back against the wall, Bruer got the next game to force a tiebreaker.
All eyes were now on the tiebreaker, as every other set was over. Neither player was willing to give up, even though Jeffrey already secured a win for Fullerton. It was purely for pride and both players gave it all they got. Buser hit some more big forehand winners to get a few points, but Miranda found a way to hold on. On the set point, Miranda hit a passing forehand up the alley to give the Hornets a bigger win margin, putting the final score at 7-2.
“They did really well in keeping their composure. They kept getting to every single ball and they kept doing the things that we’ve been working on at practice, so it’s good,” said Duron.