Don Lowry has been around a lot of strong tennis players, so it’s no idle statement when SBCC’s fourth-year men’s coach declares that “this will be my best” Vaquero team.
Lowry, a four-time Big West Coach of the Year at UCSB, earned WSC Coach of the Year honors after guiding SBCC to a 6-4 record and a third–place finish last year.
SBCC makes its 2009 debut on Wednesday with a noon match against Reedley at the Santa Barbara Municipal Courts.
Elliot Markowitz is one of three sophomores on the team. The Santa Barbara High product played No. 2 singles last year and earned second-team All-WSC honors.
Markowitz, who reached the Southern Cal Regional in both singles and doubles, will be No. 2 again behind Ryan Sweeney of Bethesda, Md. Sweeney is also attending UCSB this year.
Zack Scott, the former No. 1 player at San Marcos High, will play No. 4, followed by Andy Christiansen of Denmark, Hiro Inoue of Japan and Antonio Rodrigues of Brazil.
There are six international players on the Vaqueos’ 14-man roster and three from out-of-state.
“The key to developing new players is getting them in shape,” Lowry noted. “It really helps to have that two-week training camp. Then, picking the right guys. We had 18 try out and we’re carrying 12. Chemistry is also really important. I’ve had teams that didn’t have the greatest talent but the chemistry was so good, we ended up with real solid years.
“Last year, we started slow, losing to Glendale and Pierce,” recalled Lowry. “We didn’t really have our lineup together. Once we got some guys eligible, we beat those two schools in the second round.”
Still, the Vaqueros came up one win short of making the SoCal Regional as a team.
“This year, we’ve got a good player in every position,” Lowry said. “We won’t be giving away any matches like we have in the past.”
The WSC is loaded again this year with defending state champion Ventura, which went unbeaten in 19 matches, ranked No. 3 in the state and Glendale No. 4.
“We didn’t get our ranking information in last year, so we’re not in the preseason rankings,” said Lowry. “I think we’d fit safely in the top 10. We need to stay healthy, stay eligible and work together. We need to be firing on all cylinders at the same time.”
