Ethan Singleton--SMC Sports reporter
With the western winds behind them, the Santa Monica Corsairs sailed by the Antelope Valley College in both womens' tennis singles and doubles yesterday afternoon, defeating the Marauders 9-0.
The winds coming off the Pacific Ocean appeared to have an effect on the balls at the end of the singles matches.
"It was drifting," freshman Shawntel Patterson of the Corairs said. "My balls would go out and into the net."
It didn't take long though, for the Corsairs to adjust to the wind and put on a display of their speed, power, and finesse.
However, as the winds began to whip up, freshman Lauren Voiers was tasked to hold off the lone challenge from Marauder feshman Karly Britton but finished off the final singles match with a lob counter serve.
"I'm glad we won as a team," Voiers said.
When asked to anticipate the wind's impact on his personnel's performance, Joe Watts, third year coach of Antelope Valley said, "The wind? It's what we play in– in an environment like this. In the valley, it's windy everyday."
Nevertheless as women's doubles began, the brisk pacific winds picked up again and the Lady Corsairs set sail.
Navigating ship were duo freshman Mayra Jovic, and sophomore Izabel Nazdracheva. Jovic, who played with a poised– and in some ways dismissive demeanor, found no in difficulty communicating with 'Naz' the powerhouse.
Together, their performance was veteran-like. They played a slow match, controlling the tempo from the first serve. And after shutting down the Marauders in the third of a three match-to-nothing win in women's doubles, Naz and Jovic jokingly alluded to a 1999 Lakers championship team. "Who's Kobe?" both girls jested, before laughing off the elementary idea entirely.
"A little windy, but we made the adjustment and dealt with it," Corsair head coach Richard Goldenson said.
When asked about what one could take away from a dominant win, Goldenson said, "We're always looking to improve. [We can] serve harder and move faster."
The Corsairs are 4-2 overall and 2-2 in conference and are now tied for first in the Western State Conference with Glendale Community College's loss to Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday.
AVC's fourth straight loss drops the Marauders to 1-7 overall and 1-3 in conference.
The Corsairs will face the Vaqueros next Tuesday.