VENTURA, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Tennis team put together an impressive weekend at the Ojai Tennis Championships in Ventura, CA.
Kendall Bolock (Yucaipa, CA) led the Maroon and Grey becoming a Singles Finalist after making her way to the finals in the Open Singles Draw as the No. 8 seed. She started her run with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Kayla King (Cal Lutheran) in the Round of 32, then took out Lydia Lee (Southwestern) 6-1, 6-2 in the Round of 16 before reaching the Semi-Finals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Emily Zhang (Caltech) in the Quarterfinals, who had previously upset the No. 2 seed (Cate Cushing) in three-sets.
Bolock then squared off against No. 3 Mari Carmen Bufkin from Cal Lutheran University and needed to come from a set down to pull off the upset. After falling 7-6 (2) in the opening frame found a way to battle back to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-1. In the finals she tried to keep the momentum finding herself locked in a battle with the top seed Nina Mitrofanova from Southwestern. Bolock gave her all she could handle forcing the opening set to a breaker eventually falling 7-6 (5) before getting broken in the second set in a 6-4 stanza.
Liv Rockwood (Park City, UT) also made a deep run in the Open Singles Draw as the No. 4 seed, making it to the Semi-Finals before falling to the top seed Mitrofanova, despite forcing her to a third set. On her way she beat Megan Flores 6-1, 6-3 and then her teammate, freshman Kiana Brady (Hermosa Beach, CA) 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the Quarterfinals. In the match-up with Mitrofanova she won the first set 6-4, but couldn't build off of that as she would fall 6-3, 6-4 nearly pulling off the upset.
Brady came in as the No. 7 seed in the Open Draw and started her bracket off with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Heidi Levanen (Cal Lutheran). She then edged Michelle Hyun (Caltech) 6-2, 7-6 (5) before falling to L. Rockwood in the Quarterfinals.
Gabby Rockwood (Park City, UT) was the fourth Bulldog to compete in singles taking Brennan Foreman (Cal Lutheran) the distance. She took the opening set 6-4, and had opportunities in the second to advance, but couldn't pull it off dropping the next two frames 7-6 (6), 6-0. She then moved to the Consolation Draw where she rolled Emily List (Whittier) 6-1, 6-1 and Avery Turner (Whittier) 6-1, 6-0, before falling to Carolina Groff Hinojosa (Cal Lutheran) in another match that went the distance where she took the opening set. This time she would fall 5-7, 6-3, 10-5.
In doubles Brady and L. Rockwood were paired up for the first time on the season and they made it past Erickson/Fhima (Chapman) 6-4, 6-1 in the Round of 16, but couldn't advance falling to eventual champions Bufkin/Foreman (Cal Lutheran) 1-6, 6-4, 4-10.
Bolock and G. Rockwood, who have played together all season and were poised for a deep run in the draw earned a walk-over in the Round of 16 following a no-show from Kolli/Arora (Caltech). They then faced off against Garcia/Groff (Cal Lutheran) in the Quarterfinals falling in three sets 1-6, 6-3, 8-10.
Redlands returns to the courts for two SCIAC Dual Matches this weekend to end their regular season. They travel to Whittier College on Friday, April 29 beginning at 3:00pm before hosting Claremont-M-S on Saturday, April 30 (10:00am).