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Long Beach State University Athletics
Maeva Razakasoa Having Another Special Season For Beach Tennis
4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Long Beach, Calif. - Trailing 5-2 in the deciding third set, junior Maeva Razakasoa had it all on her shoulders. With Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara tied 3-3, she knew her match against Lou Adler would determine which team came out on top. A 25-game conference winning streak and a Big West title hung in the balance, with no margin for error.
"This is the kind of moment you're going to remember for all your life," reflects Razakasoa. "It was pretty amazing."
Razakasoa went on to survive four match points, winning five games in a row to pick up an improbable 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win and secure a 4-3 victory for the Beach.
"Everybody at the same time came on the court, so I felt like I had a new energy coming to me," explains Razakasoa, as her teammates arrived to watch her all-important match. "I don't even know how I actually won this match. I think (Adler) became a little bit tight to close the match so I took advantage of it. It was crazy."
About a month earlier, there was a turning point in Razakasoa's season. She was sidelined with a shoulder injury and forced to miss a match against No. 17 Pepperdine, the highest ranked opponent on LBSU's schedule. She looked on in frustration as she wasn't able to compete with her team, and Long Beach suffered its worst loss of the season, 6-1.
"That was a pretty tough week," she says. "I feel so lucky to play here, and when I couldn't play I felt terrible. From then on I was more excited to practice, to be on the team, to play a match. So when I could play again it made me play my best tennis."
Razakasoa played the next day after the Pepperdine match with her injured shoulder taped up, and the Beach suffered a 4-2 loss against nationally ranked North Carolina State. From that weekend on, Razakasoa hasn't lost a match—and neither has the team. Long Beach State has won 10 straight matches to close the regular season, including the thriller at UCSB. Six of the 10 wins were sweeps, and the Beach wrapped up a third straight unbeaten conference season for a third consecutive regular season title.
That success coincides with Razakasoa's three years at Long Beach State, where she has already had one of the best careers in program history with over a year still remaining. She was the Big West Player of the Year in 2014 as a freshman, and has remained at the No. 1 spot in the LBSU lineup ever since. Earlier this year, she climbed to No. 57 in the ITA Division I singles rankings, which is the third-highest individual ranking in program history.
"Obviously Maeva has been a consistent performer for us since she got here," says Beach head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello. "As Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in her first year, we knew we had something special with her. She's just continued to build on that and this year she's made a breakthrough to that next level with her consistency and her confidence. That's why you see her in the national rankings now and why again I think she's the best player in the conference and hopefully will be rewarded for that."
She's certainly the odds-on favorite to win Big West Player of the Year for the second time, going 8-0 in Big West matches while playing No. 1 in the lineup in every match. When Razakasoa faced Cindy Nguyen of Hawai'i, the defending conference Player of the Year, it was all Maeva in a 6-0, 6-2 rout. Should Razakasoa claim the award again this year, she would become just the second player in school history to win multiple times.
Razakasoa began playing tennis when she was just seven years old growing up in Cranves-Sales, France, right along the border with Switzerland. Maeva used to watch her cousin, Irina Ramialison, play tournaments in her hometown and aspired to follow in her footsteps. Ramialison, who is three years older than Razakasoa, has been ranked as high as No. 243 in the world and currently competes on the ITF Pro Circuit.
Maeva's parents are originally from Madagascar, but moved to France to pursue higher education. Her dad is an engineer in France and her mom owns a watch shop in Switzerland, and Maeva is sure to text them after every match to let them know how the team did. Technology helps with the separation from her family, and Maeva relies on Skype and FaceTime to stay in touch with her loved ones back home. But the chance to study and play tennis is an opportunity that's unique to the United States, a place she'd always hoped to be one day.
"I always dreamed to come here to California. First in America, but especially in California," she explains. "Then when I knew you could combine tennis and studying at the same time, I knew ‘Yes, I want to go there so bad.'"
In the classroom, Razakasoa is double majoring in Business Management and Supply Chain Management, still hoping to figure out her career path after college. On the tennis court, Universal Tennis ranks her as the top French female playing college tennis in the U.S. For now, she's got her sights set on the Big West Tournament Apr. 27-30 in Indian Wells, Calif. followed by the NCAA Tournament, where she hopes to play not only in the team competition, but in the individual draw as well. Then next season, she'll have the chance to become the winningest player in Beach Tennis history, as she already ranks in the Top 10 in overall wins.
"Hopefully next year we'll be able to break through that next barrier," Hilt-Costello says. "And maybe see her crack into the Top 30 or Top 25 before she leaves."
Players Mentioned
