THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – On Saturday afternoon, Cal Lutheran women's tennis hosted Chapman in its first conference contest of the season. The Regals rode a hot start to a 4-3 win against a tough Panthers team.
Chapman entered Saturday ranked #31 in the country by ITA, giving Cal Lutheran a great opportunity to notch a quality win in the extremely-competitive SCIAC.
Kicking off the day in doubles were the duos of
Mina Ahmadi/
Carmen Bufkin,
Kylee Limpias/
Maddy Ford, and
Anya Rajan/
Luisa Garcia. In the #3 spot, Rajan/Garcia made quick work of their opponents in a clean 6-0 set. Limpias/Ford followed up with a 6-2 win, and Ahmadi/Bufkin fed off the momentum to a 6-4 victory. After sweeping the doubles matches, the Regals earned the team doubles point and entered singles up 1-0.
Bufkin, an All-SCIAC selection in each of her first three years at Cal Lutheran, got off to an outstanding start in her final conference season with a 6-1, 6-2 win out of the #1 spot.
Not long after Rajan secured another point for the Regals out of the #2 spot behind a dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory. At this point, Cal Lutheran held a 3-0 team lead.
Across Poulson, another match was nearing its end. Garcia wrapped up an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win in the #5 spot to clinch the match for the Regals. It was Garcia's first clinch in her career at Cal Lutheran.
Ford fell in two sets in the #3. Due to the Regals clinching early, Limpias and
Evelyn Oltmans, in the #4 and #6 spots, respectively, played a 10-point third set tiebreak after each split their opening two sets. Limpias lost the tiebreak 10-4 while Oltmans was defeated 10-6.
Saturday marked the Regals' first team victory since they were in Texas in mid-February, but they only played three matches between then and now.
It was also Cal Lutheran's first win against Chapman since 2019. However, it was the first matchup between the two schools that was played in Thousand Oaks during this senior class' tenure as Regals. Last year, Cal Lutheran lost a heart-breaker to the Panthers by a score of 5-4, so this win represented a bit of revenge from previous matchups.
Cal Lutheran will look to keep the success going as its conference schedule continues on Tuesday, April 1. The Regals will go on the road to face Occidental at 3pm.
