The Santa Rosa Junior College men’s tennis team (2-2, 1-0) defeated Solano College 8-1 in a one-sided performance on Feb.25 at Izzy Derkos tennis courts.
The highlight of the day’s matches was SRJC’s Nick Wight’s singles match against Solano’s Tommy Purcell. It was the only match of the day that went to three sets and was close the entire time.
Wight won the first match but lost the second and kept the momentum going into the third. With an early 2-0 lead, Purcell came back quick to take a 4-3 lead.
“I just had to grind out,” Wight said after the match.
It stayed close for the rest of the match with each player trading points until Wight took a 7-6 lead.
Wight forced a tiebreaker match that he won with a final score of 8-6.
SRJC’s only loss came in one of the few competitive matches of the day. SRJC’s number one doubles pair, Mathias Burlingame and Wight, squared off against Solano’s best pair.
It was one of the first matches of the day and it did not disappoint. Both pairs fought tooth and nail to stay in the match but it ended in SRJC losing 8-5.
“It’s a team we know we can beat,” Burlingame said. “We play them again this year so we just got to get them next time.”
Although Burlingame and Wight came up short, they showed signs of success for upcoming matches. Both players used good communication in their match.
“I got a lot of experience playing high level doubles last year and [that] is all aboutcommunication,” Burlingame said.
Burlingame had a very impressive singles match of his own, defeating his opponent in two straight sets (6-3) (6-2), despite pain in his elbow throughout the match.
“I was pretty confident coming in. I just need to stick to the style I play,” Burlingame said after the match.
“[Burlingame] has had some ups and downs like with his tennis elbow. I think that was bugging him today,” said head coach Jay Samonte.
SRJC takes on a talented American River College team at 1 p.m. Feb. 26 at Izzy Derkos tennis courts.
