Santa Rosa Junior College Women’s Tennis is consistently ranked in the top five in California. The Cubs finished the ’07 season with a 2nd place finish in the Big 7 conference.  Laurie Souksavath, SRJC’s #1 player, was a state qualifier in singles and finished her career as a Bear Cub with a 28-8 singles record. They finished the ‘06 season ranked 2nd in the state.  Representing Northern California in the State Championship, the Cubs traveled to Southern California to play the socal representative.  Succumbing to Orange Coast 5-3 in a hard fought team state final, SRJC’s women finished an incredible season with an 18-1 team record.  Susan Souksavath, SRJC’s No. 1 player, went on to win the Individual State Championship by defeating a very talented Yui Shimizu of Grossmont 6-2, 6-2.  Souksavath had previously lost to Shimizu in the semi-finals a few weeks earlier at Ojai 7-5 in the third, her only loss of the year. What separates Santa Rosa JC from most of the other community college tennis programs is the school’s commitment to the student-athlete.  SRJC academics are highly respected and thus, considered one of the top community colleges in the country.  A majority of the student-athletes that play tennis at SRJC transfer to four-year universities, many with tennis scholarships. Coach Samonte believes in a balanced approach to developing tennis excellence.  Weight-training, explosive training (Olympic lifts & plyometrics), sprint training, balance, and body awareness exercises are an integral part of the off-court training regime.   Specific singles and doubles drills geared towards competitive preparation are a daily routine for Bear Cub players. A huge emphasis is put on reaching excellence as a team.  Though individual accomplishments are very important, developing a winning spirit and a winning attitude are at the forefront of SRJC tennis.  Growing and maturing as young adults, sportsmanship, and professionalism will always be a requirement of student-athletes at SRJC.