CLAREMONT, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Tennis team wrapped up the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) West Regional over the weekend putting together some strong finishes.
Nine Bulldogs took part in the three-day event, which included a main draw for doubles and three flights of singles. Highlighting the weekend was Gabby Rockwood (Park City, UT) and Kendall Bolock (Yucaipa, CA) who took home the Consolation Doubles Title, Abby Nash (Bellevue, WA) who won the Flight B Singles Consolation Title, Lexi Lehman (Scottsdale, AZ) who was a Flight B Singles Consolation Finalist, and Mia Fitzgerald (Kilauea, HI) and Lehman who were Doubles Consolation Semi-Finalists.
Doubles Draw
G. Rockwood and Bolock opened up their tournament with an 8-1 loss to the top seeded No. 1 Bahsoun/Batoshvili (Claremont-M-S) duo. But they entered the back draw and cruised to the title winning four matches. They rolled Heffron/Meister (Colorado College) 8-2, then dismissed their teammates Kiana Brady (Hermosa Beach, CA) and Christine O'Brien (Overland Park, KS) (Redlands) 8-2, before shutting out Hyun/Yu (Caltech) 8-0. That sent them into the final where they would roll to the title 8-3 over Van Cott/Bufkin (Cal Lutheran).
Brady-O'Brien faced off against a tough No. 6 seed in Lyven/Coleman (Claremont-M-S) falling 8-1. They were able to advance in the consolation draw beating Golin/Erickson (Chapman) 8-4 before falling to their teammates Rockwood/Bolock (Redlands) 8-2 in the quarterfinals.
Fitzgerald-Lehman were paired up for the tournament and fought in their opening round, but fell 8-6 to Aziz/Marcus (Pomona-Pitzer). They then put together a deep run in the consolation draw beating the No. 7 seed Allyn/Phillips (Chapman) 8-4, before advancing due to withdrawal by Fleming/Campbell (Occidental). Their final match was against Van Cott/Bufkin (Cal Lutheran) in the Semi-Finals, but couldn't gain any traction as they fell 8-2.
Liv Rockwood (Park City, UT) and Nash were the last team to be put together for the tournament advancing in their opening round beating Saunders/Davis (Whittier) 8-2 before falling to the No. 5 seed Lee/Juan (Claremont-M-S) 8-2.
Flight A Singles
U of R had three players in the Flight A Singles draw. Bolock got through her first round leading 6-2 before her opponent Maria Lyven (Pomona-Pitzer) withdrew due to injury. That then matched her up with the No. 5 seed Nikolina Batoshvili (Claremont-M-S) and she threatened the Athena falling 6-4, 6-4.
Brady was also able to battle into the second round beating Tatum Phillips (Chapman) 6-2, 7-5 before taking on No. 7 seed Gabby Lee (Claremont-M-S). Brady won the opening set 7-5, but couldn't keep the momentum going falling 6-2, 10-3 over the next two frames.
O. Rockwood was the final Bulldog in the draw. She fell 7-5, 6-0 to No. 3 seed Nina Ye (Pomona-Pitzer) and was then knocked out of the tournament dropping a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Emily Zhang (Caltech) in the consolation bracket.
Flight B Singles
Nash led the six Bulldogs in the Flight B Draw. She exited the main bracket falling 6-1, 6-1 to No. 4 seed Samantha Moore-Thomson (Pomona-Pitzer) before rolling off four wins to take home the consolation singles title. She took out Avery Turner (Whittier) 6-1, 6-3, Jordan Buck (Cal Lutheran) 6-2, 6-2, Caro Groff (Cal Lutheran) 6-4, 6-2 and then her teammate Lehman 6-4, 7-5 in the final.
Lehman made a deep run as well being a consolation Finalist. After dropping a 6-3, 6-0 decision to Anika Arora (Caltech) in the main draw she then rolled off three matches beating Heidi Levanen (Cal Lutheran) 6-3, 7-5, teammate Fitzgerald (Redlands) 6-3, 6-4, and No. 7 seed Michelle Hyun (Caltech) 6-1, 6-1 before falling to Nash in the finale.
O'Brien had a great run in the main draw making it to the quarterfinals. She upset No. 7 seed Michelle Hyun (Caltech) 6-3, 6-3, then held on to beat Zoe Campbell (Occidental) in three sets 1-6, 6-2, 10-8. But her run fell short as she would fall 6-2, 6-1 to Yoyo Benchetrit (Caltech).
After a 6-0, 6-3 loss to No. 5 seed Nina Solovyeva (Caltech), Fitzgerald would go into the consolation draw beating Maddy Meister (Colorado College) 6-2, 6-0 before falling to teammate Lehman (Redlands) 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
G. Rockwood was able to advance in her opening round beating Payal Patel (Caltech) 6-3, 6-2 but then faced off against No. 6 seed Alisha Chulani (Claremont-M-S) falling 6-3, 6-0.
Madison Sherwood (Las Vegas, NV) was the final Bulldog to compete in the Flight B Draw. After a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Alexis Matabuena (Occidental), Sherwood entered the consolation bracket advancing past No. 8 seed Melisha Dogra (Pomona-Pitzer) who withdrew due to injury. After that she faced off against Caro Groff (Cal Lutheran) in the quarterfinals falling in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.