The doubles team of sophomore Sasha Holub Filistovich and freshman Yvonne Ng head into this week’s CCCAA State Tournament as the No.11 seed wild card and will face No. 8 Santa Monica this Thursday at 12:30pm.
How the doubles team of Filistovich and Ng got into the state tournament was a mix of luck and hard work.
When CCSF travelled to Monterey Peninsula College on Mar. 31 for their last regular-season match Filistovich and Ng played one doubles as the regular one team of Kelly Bennett and Amy Forwand were unavailable. On that day they earned a victory over the Monterey one team, which helped their cause to be seeded at the conference tournament.
“Our number one team was unavailable, so Sasha and Yvonne were bumped up to number one doubles,” Hickey said. “They earned a victory against Monterey’s number one doubles team – that is, actually, how they earned their wild card because my number two team had a win over Monterey’s number one team, which got them the eleventh seed in the tournament.”
Filistovich and Ng’s performance against Monterey that earned them the wild card was not a surprise to Hickey, who said their work ethic and improvement they showed throughout the whole year resulted in their entry into the state championships.
“They stuck with each other, and were dedicated to the team. They made a lot of great strides. Sasha and Yvonne put in the effort,” Hickey said.
Filistovich and Ng have had close to a two-week layoff since their last match, but Hickey has used that time wisely to prepare her duo for the grind of a tournament-style week.
“We’ve kicked our cardio into high gear because you can be playing multiple matches in multiple days,” Hickey said.
They also have been working on multiple drills (volley work, doubles movement, and theory) with the goal of implementing those tactics into practices matches leading up to their tournament match.
Hickey is also excited about her doubles team experiencing the state tournament, which is held at Ojai, California. This will be the first time for both Filistovich and Ng.
“It’s one of the oldest tournaments – Arthur Ashe played there -- and I’m excited that Sasha will get to experience a state tournament. And for Yvonne, this will give her something to look forward to and aim for next year.