The No. 25 University of Redlands women's tennis team squared off against in-region foe, UC Santa Cruz, on Friday afternoon and captured an important 7-2 win over the Banana Slugs.  The Bulldogs swept the doubles and then earned victories in four of the six singles matches.

The top tandem of junior Elizabeth Johnson (Portland, OR) and sophomore Sarah Ikioka (Wailuku, HI) set the tone early with an 8-1 win.  First-years Karen Kobayashi (Sappora, Japan) and Lexi Lehman (Scottsdale, AZ) quickly followed suit with an 8-3 showing at No. 3 before junior Kate Dolan (St. Louis, MO) and sophomore Jackie Lacy (Palm Desert, CA) completed the sweep with their 8-4 triumph at No. 2.

After UC Santa Cruz got on the board at No. 6 singles, Redlands answered with wins in the next four completed matches.  First, Ikioka came away with a 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 slot, while Lacy officially clinched the deciding point when she defeated her No. 3 counterpart, 6-4, 6-3.  In addition, Lehman and Kobayashi contributed singles wins.

Redlands (8-7, 2-0) hits the road on Friday, April 6, for a 3 p.m. conference match against the No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas.