THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The second outing of the spring for the Cal Lutheran women's tennis team served as the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opener for the Regals who earned a 6-0, rain shortened, victory over Occidental this morning at the Poulson Tennis Center.
Beneath cloudy skies in drizzly conditions, the home team jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after strong doubles matches. Annette Sousa and Emily Werman were victorious over Amber Gadsden and Lauren Hutkin by an 8-5 margin at No. 2 for the first point of the day. Mallory Kenny and Shelby Kubota downed Sara Charney and Keilani Bonis-Ericks at No. 1 and Sarah Baker and Rebecca Gold wrapped up the 3-0 start at No. 3 against Samantha Farrell and Lucy Malloch as each team won 8-4.
"It was great to get out on the courts and compete in our first SCIAC match of the season," head coach Vanessa McPadden shared. "Our players were a little nervous going into doubles and we started a little slow, playing not to lose instead of playing to win," She went on, "As the match progressed, we were able to start playing smarter and we ended up sweeping doubles for the second match in a row. I am very proud about the way we finished and how we stuck to our game plan."
Though the singles matches were cut short, CLU produced strong showing across the board as all six players were winning at the time that the match was called due to conditions.
Earning the fourth point of the day today was Sousa who notched the first SCIAC win of her freshman season with a 6-0, 6-1 showing against Isabella Korfmann at No. 6. The team match was then clinched by Baker at No. 4 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Gadsden.
The only other set to go to completion was at No. 5 where Kubota swept past Hutkin 6-0, 6-0.
When the rain came down harder and the teams cleared the courts, Kenny was up 7-5, 2-1 at No. 1, Gold was leading Farrell 6-3, 3-0 and Werman stole the first game at No. 3 with a score of 6-4.
Today was both the season and SCIAC opener for Occidental.
Cal Lutheran (2-0, 1-0 SCIAC) will have nearly a two week hiatus before returning to competition on Friday, Feb. 20 at Pomona-Pitzer for a 2:00 p.m. start against the Sagehens.
Results: CLU 6, OXY 0
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