The Fresno City College women’s tennis suffered a heart breaking, season ending loss 5-3 in their Southern California semifinals match against De Anza on April 12. This match counts as only the second loss for the Rams that marked the end of their fantastic season, falling just short of their expectations.

The Rams went into this match coming off a strong performance in the Big Eight conference tournament where the team finished in the final, while also winning a singles title.

Fresno quickly saw themselves advance through the first round to their semifinals match, which made them just two rounds away from their ultimate goal of competing for a state title.

The playoff match started of in doubles competition as both teams were leaving everything out on the court, fighting for a spot in the finals.

Both teams were countering serves, volleys and strikes, neither pairing gaining a slight advantage. This resulted with each team splitting the first two doubles matches; which meant that it all came down to the third and final doubles match between the two schools.

The match against De Anza featured the pairing of the Rams Milah Ryland and Raquel Gonzales and was the closest match out of the three.

It was back and forth in point scoring between the two teams, as De Anza came out with the slight lead the match by a single set.

The pairing of Ryland and Gonzales turned the match to their favor as they gained momentum by winning much needed points and winning the next three sets to clinch the match. Giving the Rams  2-1 lead heading into the singles matches.

“The doubles match was a hard fought match as they are a good team, but i was happy we were able to pull it out of that early lead.” said Gonzales.

As the Rams headed into the singles match, they were hoping to hold on to that single match lead. Similar to the doubles matches, each singles match came down to a single set difference.

Gonzales and Ryland built off the momentum that had from the doubles matches and opened up the singles matches with an early lead. The strong start was short lived as De Anza came back with a fury, tightening up the gap between the two teams, and even taking the lead.

The Rams tried to hold on to their lead by forcing matches to extra sets but it wasn’t enough as they had hard time keeping their lead, with Rams Harley Pena suffering a minor ankle injury, which helped De Anza in winning four out of the five singles matches and sealing the win.

This match was a bitter pill for this team to swallow as they came just shy of their team goal of playing for a state title.

As much as Rams head coach Chantel Wiggins was disappointed in the outcome of the match, she is still proud of her team and all that they have accomplished this season as they end the season with a 13-2 record.

“I love this team. They really played hard out there and I wouldn’t trade them for anyone.” said Wiggins