The NCAA tennis season shutdown turned the world upside down for 18 Aztec men and women, confronting them with the task of traveling often extraordinary distances at a time of risk and rapid change.
Coaches and parents worked diligently to help assist what became a worldwide evacuation operation.
ATR asked Aztec players and coaches to describe what happened.
On the last day of March, Aztec senior David Hough left San Diego and flew to Los Angeles, then overnight to Melbourne, Australia on the last Qantas flight before its international shutdown.
Hough, who won Mountain West Player of the Week in January, was met by his parents, who brought two cars to the airport .Their two-hour drive home to Traralong in separate vehicles symbolizes the tumultuous nature of the new world order.
By driving alone, Hough was beginning a two-week quarantine that extended to a guest bedroom and separate meals for 14 days. Total travel distance: 8,300 miles.
Aztec Cecile Morin struggled through four airline flight cancellations before hiring Uber to drive her to Los Angeles International Airport.
“I flew from LA to Paris by Air France and then Paris to Marseille,” she said. “My mother picked me up at the airport.” Total distance traveled: 6,138 miles.
Julia Jordan traveled 84 miles to Ensenada to her parent’s home (her father at the wheel), anticipating a border shutdown.
At least four teammates stayed in San Diego in off-campus apartments: Agustina Rimoldi Godoy of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mia Smith of Tunbridge Wells, England, Fabian Roensdorf of Dortmund, Germany, and Ignacio Martinez of Weston, Florida.
One Aztec men’s player, Jan Kirchhoff, returned home to Berlin, Germany, a distance of 5,834 miles.
The speed of change had an almost whiplash effect.
Coach Mattera said: “We went from playing what turned out to be our last dual match of the year on Wednesday, March 11, where everything was relatively fine and normal, and in 48 hours, the ball started rolling down the hill.”