The Mills College tennis team toured four schools in Southern California during spring break, gaining two team wins over four days.
Losing to Claremont Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, Calif. and to California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif. — both 0-9 — the Cyclones came back to win their biggest match of the season against Los Angeles’ Occidental College in a final 5-4 score. The cyclones also beat La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif. 9-0.
The team said the highlight of the series was undoubtedly the win against Occidental.
“I would say that the Occidental College win was our biggest win of the season because they are considered an excellent team,” junior Christine Ferry said.
Head Tennis Coach Jesse Medvene-Collins took seven out of nine athletes on the trip, and said the team did its best job so far in competition.
“It was a very good victory. Historically, Oxy has a good tennis program,” said Medvene-Collins. “The win was an intense situation.”
According to Medvene-Collins, Occidental’s tennis courts are arranged in rows of four, making the final teams of five and six play particularly hard, especially when it came down to the last set of players to determine the match point.
Mills won all three sets of single matches and one of three of the double matches. With two matches left in the game, Occidental came back to win one match in the doubles, leaving Mills “clenching the win at the number six in high drama,” as Medvene-Collins said, with the last double win.
“The team really pulled through in the end,” Medvene-Collins said. “The doubles have gotten a lot better over the season. They have become more aggressive in style, learning to play harder while being as positive and as supportive as possible.”
“It is just evidence the tennis team has gone to a whole new level,” said Athletic Director Themy Adachi, who has been at the College for more than two decades. “Mills has never beaten Oxy in my time here. Jesse has done an incredible job.”
