MARAUDER TENNIS TEAM LOSES CLOSE MATCH TO SANTA MONICA, 5-4

Photo by Bill Sobalvarro

LANCASTER - The match between the Marauder tennis team and Santa Monica College went back and forth the entire afternoon and came down to the final set in doubles.

Unfortunately, for the Marauders Karlie Heckenliable and Karly Britton were defeated 8-6 and the Corsairs held on for a 5-4 victory, Tuesday afternoon at Antelope Valley College.

The loss kept AVC winless in the Western States Conference and the Marauders have dropped six consecutive matches since opening the season with a victory over College of the Sequoias.

"I know we can do better and there are a lot of things we can work on," said Heckenliable. "The team has always stayed positive and we know there's always next time. Each week I think we are improving. We work really hard in practice. From the beginning of the season until now I have seen a big improvement."

Before losing her doubles' match with Britton, Heckenliable was defeated by Santa Monica's Shanntel Patterson in singles, 6-2, 6-0.

The singles' matches were split with each team winning three matches each. Britton defeated Lauren Voiers, snapping her two game losing skid, 6-4, 6-0. AVC's No. 1 singles player Celsea McGrew dominated the Corsairs' Masa Petrovic, 6-1, 6-0. Nina Nguimzon had no trouble in her match against Maya Narumi as she cruised to an easy victory, 6-0, 6-2.

Kaity Huston and partner Sara Harr defeated Sammie Xiao and Narumi easily, 8-3.