The University of Redlands women's tennis team enjoyed a solid outing at the annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Fall West Regional Championships in Claremont over the weekend of September 28-30.  With some new faces representing the Bulldogs, the team put together quality results that included a consolation champion and a finalist.

In the doubles consolation bracket of Flight A, sophomore Karen Kobayashi (Sappora, Japan) and first-year Mia Fitzgerald (Kauai, HI) took advantage of a second chance by earning the championship with impressive results.  After advancing on a quarterfinal default, the pair topped a duo from Whittier College, 8-1, and then secured an 8-6 victory over a second Poet tandem.  In the final, Kobayashi and Fitzgerald rolled to an 8-0 win over Chapman University's Nicole Fouts and Lisa Trofimova.

In the singles consolation bracket of Flight A, Fitzgerald excelled with a finals appearance in her debut as a Bulldog.  She knocked off Crystal Juan of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 6-1, 6-3, before posting the same result over Caltech's Sarina Liu.  In the semifinals, she dominated her opponent from Occidental College, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the final.  Unfortunately, she had to retire late in the first set to end her outstanding run.

In addition, seniors Madison Ross (San Diego, CA) and Kate Dolan (St. Louis, MO) captured two wins apiece in the singles consolation bracket of Flight B.  Ross put together a 6-0, 6-1 performance over a Whittier foe before defeating a player from Caltech by scores of 6-1, 6-2.  Dolan topped counterparts from Chapman and Occidental while only dropping a combined two games in four sets.

The Redlands women's tennis team looks forward to the start of the spring schedule on Saturday, February 2, when it hosts Azusa Pacific University and Point Loma Nazarene University at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.