SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Cal Lutheran women's and men's tennis traveled up to UC Santa Cruz on Saturday in each team's first dual match of the 2025 spring season.

The women's match kicked off the doubleheader at 10am in the foggy morning. Carmen Bufkin and Anya Rajan were able to tough out a gritty 7-4 tiebreak win in their doubles match, but the Slugs won the other two pairings to take the doubles point. The home team would follow that up with three wins in the singles matches, ending the match at 4-0 UC Santa Cruz.

Due to a long weather delay during the match, the other three singles matches remained unfinished. When terminated, Bufkin was up a set, Maddy Ford was up two  in the third set, and Kylee Limpias had just extended her match to a tiebreak. The Regals were putting together a rally, but it wasn't quite enough.

Despite the results on the scorecard, Head Coach Mike Gennette liked what he saw from his team. "We were close to taking that match, but credit to the Slugs for pulling out the win," he said.

The men's match decided to skip the doubles and go straight to the singles due to concerns about light, so the doubles point went unawarded. Ethan Sherwood won a close match against the Slugs' top player with a 10-3 third-set tiebreak. The Slugs took four matches before Carlo Drewelow was able to finish, but he was tied at one set a piece. Due to time constraints, the match was called at 4-1 UC Santa Cruz.

"Great career win for Ethan, glad to see him take that coming off an injury," said Gennette. "Everyone was happy to see Frederick Otto on the courts again after a setback a few months ago, looking forward to seeing what he brings us this year."

Both teams will continue their seasons with a trip to Texas to play four matches in four days from Friday, Feb. 14 to Monday, Feb. 17. The road trip begins Friday morning against Hardin-Simmons in Dallas.