AVC doubles teams qualify for SoCal Regionals
VENTURA – The Antelope Valley College women’s tennis team had an impressive showing in the opening day of the Western State Conference championships at Ventura College as two of its three doubles pairing qualified for the Southern California Regionals later this month at Cypress College.
Kristi Henderson and Naia Smithly, seeded sixth in the tournament, had an opening round bye in the round of 64 before handily defeating Bakersfield College’s Tara Bashirtash and Aleah Cisneros, 8-1, in the second round to advance.
AVC’s Brook Faulk and Sabrina Bulsombut seeded 12th, had a tougher time to get to the quarterfinals, but still advanced. The Marauders’ duo defeated Leslie Galaviz and Alexis Mirzayam of College of the Canyons, 8-0, in the first round.
Faulk and Bulsombut then jumped out to a 7-1 lead against fifth-seeded Krista Staat and Stephanie Mercado of Bakersfield College. Staat and Mercado rallied by winning the next three games cutting the lead to 7-4. Faulk and Bulsombut, however, broke Staat’s serve at love to seal the victory, 8-4.
“I was nervous at first, but excited at the same time because I knew we could beat them. I thought we played very well today,” Faulk said. “This is the best Sabrina and I have played all season. I think we’re playing our best tennis at the right time. It’s very exciting because not many people get to go and that’s what’s important.”
Faulk and Bulsombut will compete in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
“Brooke and I had a really good day. Whenever we made a mistake we were able to fix it right away,” Bulsombut said. “It’s very exciting for us. We were already on a high because we knew we were playing a really good team. We made very few mistakes today.”
Juliana Martinez and Gabby Garcia, the third doubles team to compete for the Marauders, had no problems with Ventura College’s Ava Gallo and Maria
Gomez, as they beat them soundly, 8-0.
Unfortunately for Martinez and Garcia, their next opponent was the overall top seed, Santa Monica’s Nicole West and Kai Nikchevich, who defeated the Marauders, 8-0.
“I thought we played really well. The last two dual matches we played some of our best tennis and we’re playing the best tennis we’ve played all year,” AVC head coach Justin Webb said. “I’m very pleased with how we’re playing right now. Today we showed the ability to stay focused and not get caught up in who we’re playing.
“I think one of the most impressive things today was Brooke and Sabrina getting out to a 7-1 lead. And even when Bakersfield won three games in a row, they were able to stay focused and not let outside things affect them. They were able to close it out.”
In singles, Faulk won by default against Santa Monica’s Nadima Shirzad and advanced to the round of 32 on Friday.
Bulsombut lost to L.A. Missions College’s Bella Cornejo, 8-1, while teammate Bridget Sedano lost to College of the Canyons’ Lauren Hannah, 8-0.
The Cougars had two more victories against the Marauders as Martinez was defeated by Hannah Heiber, 8-1, and Garcia lost to Jennifer Russell, 8-0.
Henderson and Smithley received first-round byes and will compete on today along with Faulk.
Should any of the AVC players advance at Cypress College on April 29-30, they would move on to the state championships at Mt. SAC, on May 6-7.