It was over pizza at Giovanni’s that Mary Kavaloski, tennis ace for Santa Ynez, was recognized as an athlete of the week by the Northern Santa Barbara County Athletic Roundtable on Sept. 21.
Santa Ynez is a force to be reckoned with in the Los Padres League. The Pirates thoroughly trounced Cabrillo the week before, beating them 16-2. Kavaloski, undefeated so far in the season, wrapped up a win in five sets. She gave up only two games during that match.
“It’s going really good,” Kavaloski told the Sun. “We’re undefeated so far in league.” She’s hoping for a great season.
So far, the Pirates have smacked down Templeton, Orcutt Academy, Nipomo, and Cabrillo. Their biggest challenge, Kavaloski predicted, isn’t whether they make it to CIF. It’s how far they’ll make it in CIF after they take league.
“Our team has changed a lot but we’re hoping to make it to quarterfinals,” she said. “We’re hoping that it’ll be good.”
Her origin story as a tennis player is relatively simple. Her brother played; her mom “always really loved the sport.” When high school came around, Kavaloski was asked what she wanted to play to earn her PE credit, and she already had a sport in mind.
“It just stuck with me since then,” she said.
She doesn’t have much to say about the wild success enjoyed so far by her team. “We trained a lot and we have a good coach who motivates us,” she said. “And we pump each other up. We love to work together and to earn that title.” She “really likes her team,” she said, and “we’ve bonded this year. We get along really well. It’s a great team.”
Coach Jennifer Rasmussen, Kavaloski said, “helped us a lot and motivates us to perform really well. We’re lucky to have her.”
Also lucky: Kavaloski went to the U.S. Open this year. “It’s really amazing to see what professional tennis is about in person,” she said. “You see them on TV and you’re like, wow. When you see them in person, it’s 10 times better.”
She was lucky enough to see Roger Federer play and said that there’s something about the experience that can’t quite be captured. It has to be seen live.
“Just to see the footwork and the speed of the ball and their dexterity,” she said. “It’s something you can’t really recreate on television.”
This article appears in Oct 1-8, 2015.