On Oct. 20, the Bellevue College Women’s Tennis team went to Yakima to compete in a jamboree. A jamboree is a large gathering of players who rally at a competitive level. Although the BC women’s tennis season doesn’t start until February, they were able to go out there with new recruits and returning players from last year.
Head Coach Jason Chapman, talked about how the jamboree went. “Our jamboree was great. Rixing Xu won the singles tournament 8-1 in the final with Rixing Xu and Sadie Dedon winning the doubles final 8-1. It was nice to get to see some of the new girls play and see what kinds of challenges are ahead in the spring.”
The players who came out to the jamboree were mostly new recruits. “Rixing Xu will be a strong contributor to the team, having already won the jamboree, and also Sadie Dedon will be a nice addition to the 2013 team. She plays strong doubles and will need to focus on her consistency in singles. Kristi Nasu is another new addition that will be trying out in February from Newport High School; she played well in the jamboree. Naline Long is another new player that will be trying out in February. Unfortunately, she could not make the trip to Yakima because she was sick,” stated Chapman.
One of the new recruits, Sadie Dedon, talked about the jamboree and said, “The jamboree tournament was amazing! I was so excited to get a new start playing with the BC team. As a team we did very well.”
Dedon, being a freshman this year at BC, is really excited to be on the tennis team although it is different living here in Bellevue. Dedon also stated that “Bellevue [College] has an excellent coach and the team is very serious about the sport and I can’t wait to help them continue their winning strike, going on 9 consecutive years.”
The winner of the singles tournament, Rixing Xu, talked about her match during the finals of the jamboree and stated that the most memorable event during the match was that “My strokes came into play exactly how I wanted it to be.”
With four months before the official season starting, Chapman also mentioned, “so far my team looks good, but we won’t know too much until Feb 1, when our official tryouts will be held. We had some practices in the fall quarter and look forward to spring.”
BC women’s tennis has been undefeated in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges tournament for the past eight years in a row. This tournament is held at the end of the season every year. Being able to attend as many matches such as this jamboree as well as against other four-year schools helps the team prepare for the NWAACC tournament. “Our biggest competition is usually community college of Spokane, they have really good coaches and usually very good players,” said Chapman.