Vaqueros Men's Tennis advances 5 players to State Individuals
April 6, 2024
VENTURA, CA - SBCC Men's Tennis competed in the WSC North Conference Individuals tournament in Ventura this past weekend.
The Vaqueros advanced two doubles teams and one singles player to the historic Ojai tournament for the State Individuals to be held on April 25.
Vaqueros #1 Mauritz Seitz won three rounds in the competition including two impressive wins against Ventura College players.
"Mauritz is showing great maturity in his game as he is learning to adapt to what his opponent gives him and to what his opponents don't like," head coach Danny Echt said.
Seitz's quarterfinal match came against Rafael Matias of Ventura. It was quite a battle as Seitz defeated Matias 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. Both competitors showed poise and patience as the playing conditions were quite difficult in 30 mph wind. The difference in the 3rd set super tiebreaker was that Mauritz was able to initiate control of the points from shorter slice balls that Matias was giving him particularly off the backhand side--which, earlier in the match, were working well for the Ventura player.
Seitz later fell to the #1 seed from GC, Badon, who won the event.
In doubles, Connor Schloemer and Dominic Arnell won their first round 8-0. Then, they came up against the #1 seeds from Glendale.
"Dom was locked in and playing ferocious doubles," Echt added. "Not only did he make it difficult on his opponents from the backcourt with his pace off the ground, but Dom was playing high pressure and hitting intelligent volley spots as well."
The Vaqs fell 5-8 with perhaps the best quality tennis from this team thus far this season.
Daniel Truong and Mauritz Seitz competed well as they topped a very solid Ventura team in the Round of 16, 8-4, to earn a berth to Ojai. In the quarterfinals, the Vaqs played the #3 seeds from Glendale; though they had a rough start down 1-4, they came back roaring to take a 5-4 lead.
"When Daniel and Mauritz play with a bit more feel and less first strike mentality, they create situations which are very favorable for them, which is what enabled them to run off 5 straight games against a high quality opponent. The Vaqs successfully changed their serve formation patterns against the strongest player in the tournament which proved to be a very successful move."
They fell 6-8 as the Glendale team played higher percentage doubles on the second and third balls late in the match.
Edit: SBCC Athletics would like to acknowledge Ingrid Schmitz, who coached Vaqueros Women's Tennis in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Schmitz (pictured below) was honored prior to the WSC tournament--each year, a former Men's and Women's coach is chosen to be recognized for their achievements in WSC Tennis.
"Her record was unbelievable and she spoke to the players with such an encouraging tone," Echt said.
Schmitz went 119-6 as head coach at SBCC, being named State Coach of the Year in 1998. She was named WSC Coach of the Year 3 times, and her team qualified for the State Individual Tournament all 9 years she was coach.
In 7 of those 9 years, the Vaqueros won the WSC Championship, finishing 2nd the 2 years they did not win. From 2000-2001, they only lost 1 game--their 2001 State Championship was an undefeated season.
