The UCSB women’s tennis team looked to obtain its first win of the season in its season opener Sunday, but fell to University of San Francisco 7-0 at the Recreational Center Tennis courts.

The Gauchos fall to 0-2 on the season while USF remains undefeated at 4-0.

Santa Barbara was looking to rebound after their 7-0 season opening loss to UCLA last week, but were unsuccessful against San Francisco Sunday. The Gauchos switched up their lineup for the day, inserting senior Kiersten Meehan at first singles and moving junior April Scatliffe to second singles.

“The loss against UCLA was a bit expected because they were a top-five team, but against San Francisco I feel like we were much closer, not quite good enough again, but it was more positive,” Coach Simon Thibodeau said. “We had a good chance in at least five of our matches.”

Meehan really struggled against USF’s Thyra Tuane in first singles match. Tuane’s powerful serve and accurate backhand led to the quick defeat of Meeham 1-6, 0-6. Meeham, however, was dealing with a sore shoulder and quickly had it on ice after the game. This noticeably affected her match, as she was unable to put optimal force throughout her game when it came to serves and forehand hits.

Scatliffe faced USF sophomore Sophia Holmberg in the second singles, which was a relatively close match in the first set, but slipped away from her in the second set as Holmberg out-played Scatliffe 3-6, 2-6.

Third singles starter freshman Jaimee Gilberston lost in a close contest to USF sophomore Andrea Ka, losing in a tiebreaker. Fourth singles starter junior Stacy Yam then lost to USF junior Marina Nikolic. Fifth singles starter junior Paola Cos was defeated by USF junior Milica Hadzi-Tanovic and sixth singles starter freshman Melissa Baker fell to USF sophomore Brooke Irish.

“We really just need to play better from start to finish, but there were glimpses of goodness from here and there where we felt confident,” Thibodeau said. “We still have some work to do, but we aren’t far. I’m glad it’s still early in the season, and we are just going to keep getting better, so I’m not too worried about the 0-2 start.”

The Gauchos have not hit conference play yet, so the 0-2 start does not have a huge impact on them at this point in the season. The women’s team looks to bounce back and gain their first win of the season in their next match at Loyola Marymount this Saturday.

This article is an online exclusive and did not appear in the print edition of The Daily Nexus.