The 75th Season of the UAAP had new conclusions from the previous season as the DLSU Lady Tennisters successfully regained La Salle’s position as the champion of the Lawn Tennis competition.
The team’s counterpart, the Green Tennisters, however, ended the season with heartbreak. After taking home gold in the 74th UAAP Season, the squad finished with bronze medals, succumbing in the semifinal round.
A bump on the road
The Lady Tennisters successfully ended the season on top of the field, accomplishing what they failed to do last year as the ladies walked off the clay courts sporting the gold medals they failed to claim last season. La Salle topped a familiar foe, the UST Golden Tigresses, in the finals to snatch the championship and take it back to Taft Avenue.
Coach Roland Kraut, referring to the Lady Tennisters, commented, “We had a good lineup this year despite having four freshmen, including the number one player in the Philippines [UAAP Rookie of the Year Marinel Rudas].”
With a stellar performance throughout most of the season, the Lady Tennisters, led by UAAP MVP Regina Santiago, managed to The 75th Season of the UAAP had new conclusions from the previous season as the DLSU Lady Tennisters successfully regained La Salle’s position as the champion of the Lawn Tennis competition.
The team’s counterpart, the Green Tennisters, however, ended the season with heartbreak. After taking home gold in the 74th UAAP Season, the squad finished with bronze medals, succumbing in the semifinal round.
Coach Taddy Cruz explained, “We got impacted negatively by the loss to UP and it was a wake-up call to us. After that loss, I made sure what happened last year was not gonna happen again this year because it was a heartbreaking lost last year.”
Fall from grace
The Green Tennisters, like the team’s female counterpart, also started the season in high spirits as the team won its first two encounters against Ateneo and UE. The winning streak, however, was short-lived as UST and NU handed La Salle consecutive losses to even their record. A win against UP,however, allowed La Salle to qualify for the semifinals, albeit barely.
Coach Roland Kraut shared, “The hard part of coaching a team is how to keep them hungry, after all once you’re in the top there’s nowhere to go but down.”
The loss of key tennister Mike Basco proved to be a devastating loss as the Taft-based squad failed to secure a single win in the semis against the UST Growling Tigers.
On the other hand, Cruz knew that Green Tennisters would have a difficult time from the get-go, saying, “From the start, on paper we were already not favored, but we did okay. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, but it was okay.”
Different ending, same promise
Lady Tennister rising star Nel Rudas promised, “Next year you should look forward to our games since we’re sure to do better in what we do, our training and the result of our work. Basically everything since all of us will improve, and we will hold the title for as long as we can and to the best of our abilities.”
Aside from the promise of more championships, both squads shared the same concern towards next year’s run as both Cruz and Kraut cited that the biggest difficulty lies with the team’s ability to continue recruiting seasoned players.
Both coaches, however, have high hopes for the next season as Cruz commented that the victory this year and the rising media coverage may fall to La Salle’s advantage when it comes to recruitment.
Kraut shared, “DLSU winning the GC could be the good motivation for the freshmen coming in to say DLSU has a good overall sports program maybe it’s a better choice.”
