SportsTennis

Tennis squad blasted by Chapman

Freshman Christan Krusic returns a serve in Saturday's match against Chapman. Krusic lost the match in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, and the struggling Leopards followed suit, losing to Chapman 8-1. La Verne will play host to Occidental today at 2 p.m and travel to Pasadena to face Caltech on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. / photo by Jason Cooper
Freshman Christan Krusic returns a serve in Saturday’s match against Chapman. Krusic lost the match in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, and the struggling Leopards followed suit, losing to Chapman 8-1. La Verne will play host to Occidental today at 2 p.m and travel to Pasadena to face Caltech on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. / photo by Jason Cooper

by Brice Nixon
Editorial Director

Although the struggle for a win continued for the University of La Verne women’s tennis team, sophomore Emily Hofer provided a highlight for the Leopards with an upset victory in the No. 3 singles match Saturday against Chapman.

“That was the best game I’ve ever played, and I’ve been playing for about five years,” said Hofer.

Hofer defeated Mari Matsumoto in two sets, 7-5, 6-4, but the Leopards lost, 8-1.

“It’s the biggest win of her career, without a doubt,” said ULV head coach Steve Bergovoy. “It was a brilliant, brilliant match.

“There were so many superlatives that I can go on and tell you about with Emily. The way she carried herself, body language, focus, intensity. Her concentration was unstoppable today. It was just a really, really big win.”

Both sets in Hofer’s match went down to the wire, but Hofer came out on top in each, in a match that lasted over two hours.

“Emily completely broke this girls game down,” said Bergovoy. “Her game played right into this girl’s game. The girl was a hard hitter. Emily was changing pace on her, keeping the ball in play. The girl is one of those type of hard hitters that likes to end a point very quickly.”

Matsumoto was visibly frustrated by Hofer’s deliberate pace.

“I was just letting her beat herself,” Hofer said. “She was playing down. I was able to see that and bring my game up and beat her.”

Neither player took command of the second set, but Hofer kept a one-game advantage throughout to win 6-4.

Hofer went up 3-0 in the first set, but Matsumoto won five of the next seven games to make the contest close. However, Hofer was up to the challenge, and clinched the set, 7-5

“Her game was definitely not at its top, as it’s been, because I’ve seen her play before and she’s usually really good,” said Hofer.

In her doubles match with partner Sara Gifford, Hofer’s serve did not consistently find the court and the tandem lost, 8-3.

In her singles match, however, Hofer’s serve improved.

“I was getting a way higher percentage of all my serves in,” said Hofer. “I was just a lot more on. Sometimes I feel off and I can’t get it in, and other times I’m feeling on. And in my singles I was definitely feeling on all match.”

The Leopards lost the other doubles match and forfeited the third because they had only five players due to sophomore Tiffany Miller’s absence.

Excluding Hofer’s match, La Verne won a total of five games in the other four singles matches.

ULV’s No. 1 singles player, freshman Christan Krusic, lost in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, but, Bergovoy said, played “a very formidable player and played one of the best matches I’ve seen her play.”

“She is very close to a breakthrough,” Bergovoy said of Krusic. “Not only with her poise, and her body language and her spirit, [but] her intensity and focus. [She was] brilliant out there.”

Freshman Sara Gifford had the most success, after Hofer. She won three games, but lost the match, 6-1, 6-2.

“Sara had a tough match against a girl that, probably if they played 10 times Sara’d probably beat her six or seven times out of 10,” said Bergovoy. “Sara just wasn’t able to pull it off. She lost a little bit of intensity in the second set.”

Freshman No. 4 singles player Anne Earnest “was outplayed by a much more experienced player,” Bergovoy said. “[Earnest is] fairly new to the team.”

Lori Armenta, playing No. 5 singles, lost to “a person that they moved down to play [her],” said Bergovoy. “This girl had so much more experience than Lori, and Lori matched her shot for shot but just couldn’t win the big points, but played the best match I’ve ever seen Lori play.”

Armenta, coming off a bout with asthma, “was able to overcome the asthma and still play one of her best matches,” said Bergovoy. “It’s probably one of the best matches that I’ve seen [the team] play.

“As a coach, even though we didn’t win, I can’t be more happy or more satisfied. I’m very, very pleased with what I saw today. There’s a lot of progress that happened in the last couple weeks, and it’s all come together.”

The Leopards (0-11 overall, 0-4 SCIAC) host Occidental today at 2 p.m. before traveling to Caltech to close out the season tomorrow at 8 a.m. The SCIAC tournament begins April 14 at Redlands.

Brice Nixon, Sports Editor
Brice Nixon
Other Stories
Jason Cooper, Staff Photographer
Jason Cooper
Other Stories
Previous article
White addresses societal race issues
Next article
Library breaks silence with music

Latest Stories

Related articles

Baseball

Baseball and softball end seasons at SCIAC tournament

The baseball and softball teams both saw their seasons end last weekend in their respective Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournaments.
Baseball

Leopards sweep Senior Day doubleheader, head to SCIAC tournament

The Leopards dominated during their Senior Day doubleheader against Redlands at Ben Hines Field on Saturday, bouncing back from a series-opening loss to the Bulldogs on May 1. Game one’s final score was 9-2, and game two's score was 6-2.
Baseball

Leopards earn walk-off win over Chapman

A walk-off error gave the Leopards the win over the Chapman Panthers, 8-7, in their series opener April 24 at Ben Hines Field. 
Leopard Scoreboard

Leopard Scoreboard

Sports results, schedule and standings for the week of May 1, 2026.