After a tight win against NAU in Saturday’s season opener, the Arizona women’s tennis team followed up by never letting visiting Santa Clara get close in a 7-0 victory yesterday. Arizona (2-0) swept doubles play 3-0 and no singles match even went to a third set.
“”I think it was good definitely coming off the match Saturday where it got a little bit tense,”” said coach Vicky Maes. “”A lot of the kids had a hard time finding their game and being calm on the court. I think today they were much more composed.””
After Saturday’s grueling match, which stretched from noon into late afternoon for nearly five hours, yesterday’s work was done in about three. The atmosphere following the match at Robson Tennis Center was noticeably lighter. A few players could be overheard joking with freshman Jane Huh that she was “”still undefeated in college tennis.”” Huh followed up her collegiate debut, a tough three set victory on Saturday against NAU, by knocking off Santa Clara’s Carmen Pham 6-1, 6-2.
Another Wildcat newcomer, sophomore Claire Rietsch, got her first singles win with Arizona, defeating senior Myra Davoudi 6-4, 6-2.
A transfer student from Southern Methodist University, Rietsch joined the team at the beginning of the semester. After getting cut from the SMU team last September, Rietsch said she’s been trying to get back into a groove over the last two weeks.
“”(After getting cut) my coach wouldn’t let me practice with the girls or anything in Dallas,”” she said. “”So I basically took like three months off. It was tough coming back here and having to do a little boot camp.””
Rietsch lost her debut match with Arizona Saturday, but said with the win she was feeling much more at home in the desert.
“”The first match, Friday, I was nervous, so nervous because I was trying to make a good impression,”” she said. “”It felt good to finally play well and start playing like I really play.””
Junior Danielle Steinberg continued to play strong, making quick work of her competition in the No. 1 spot by beating junior Stephanie Galainena 6-1, 6-0.
“”I was trying to make it quick actually because I was kinda sore from my previous match,”” she said. “”I could see that she was all over the place so I was taking it to my advantage and keeping the pace fast. I didn’t let her settle down.””
Despite the relatively easy win, Steinberg didn’t seem to think the match was a throw away.
“”You can always take stuff from matches,”” she said. “”My shots were improving today. You can always learn from every match.””
From this point Arizona can look forward to nine days off before taking on Texas Tech at home Feb. 1. The Wildcats hope to gain some momentum, playing their first 13 matches at home before hitting the road for the majority of March and April.
In the meantime, with the season getting underway, Steinberg said the team is going to take advantage of the short break.
“”This week and a half now of practice is going to be really good for us,”” she said. “”Starting from now we’re not going to have anymore quote unquote easy matches. This is it.””
