By Marcus Tolero
The women’s tennis season begins tomorrow when the Rams travel to Solano College for a pre-conference match at 2 p.m.
City College of San Francisco Rams Head Coach Kelly Hickey knows that the three matches before the start of conference play, which includes games with Santa Rosa Junior College and Diablo Valley College, will be an important time to assess the team and prepare for a Coast Conference Division that is loaded with some of the best teams in the state.
“I’m very excited about the season. Last year was a difficult year – a lot of competition in the Coast Conference. So I’m excited to get back out there with a new bunch. And the sophomores that we have were very green last year, but they got some experience under their belt. We also have some freshmen that I’m very excited about,” Hickey said.
Leading this year’s team will be sophomores Sasha Holub Filisovich, Nazanin Rahimi, and Sally Magnunson. Hickey said that their improvement from their freshman year up to now has been noticeable.
“Sasha and Nazanin have been at practice every day and they are ready to go. Between the two of them, they are the leaders of this team,” Hickey said.
Hickey is also excited about her incoming group of freshmen. Kelly Bennett, Amy Forwand, Kelly Hong, Jaymie Munoz, Yvonne Ng, and Ivanna Romero round out a Rams team that will look to its roster depth as an advantage throughout the year.
This year’s deep roster will be a strength for the Rams in doubles matches throughout the season. Hickey said she’ll field three evenly-talented doubles teams. She’s hoping to start strong in doubles matches and take a little pressure off of the singles matches.
The player to keep an eye on this year will be Forwand. Hickey believes she will be at the top of the strength ladder.
“They haven’t played any challenges matches yet, so I can’t say for certain. But when it all breaks down, I think Amy Forwand will be our number one,” Hickey said. “She’s got maturity on her side. Most young tennis players they hit about two or three balls and then send the third one sailing long. Her game is mature. She can start to get in a rhythm and find a pattern, whereas the younger tennis players want to hit it as hard as they can instead of putting some spin or placing it. Amy’s very good at being patient and waiting for the point to play out.”
The Rams will need consistent performances out of the entire group to compete in the tough Coast Conference Division, which includes state runner-up De Anza College and Canada College, a team that made a deep playoff run last year.
“In our conference we have two top teams in De Anza and Canada. Chabot and Foothill always have strong teams too. So we have a very difficult conference. I’d like to see us right in the middle or near the top. We definitely have the talent, it’s just a matter of how we perform against teams that are making it all the way to the state finals. It doesn’t leave us much room to get to the top. We have to perform,” Hickey said.
The Rams season opens tomorrow at Solano College. Game time is 2 p.m.