CMS Women's Tennis Has Five Advance to Quarterfinals in ITA West Regionals,

CMS Women's Tennis Has Five Advance to Quarterfinals in ITA West Regionals,

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team had five players advance to the quarterfinals in singles at the ITA West Region Championships on Friday afternoon, while four doubles teams moved on to the Round of 16 as well.

Junior Catherine Allen, the top seed in both singles and doubles (with sophomore Caroline Cox), took a 6-2, 6-2 win in her opening singles match against Ashley Isaac of UC Santa Cruz and then defeated Melisha Dogra of Pomona-Pitzer 6-4, 6-4. 

Cox, who is seeded No. 6 in the singles draw, also got off to a strong start with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Alex Ferry of Pomona-Pitzer and then defeated Lexi Lehman of Redlands 6-1, 6-1. She will next face her freshman teammate, Sydney Lee (seeded No. 3), who made equally quick work of her first two opponents, winning 6-0, 6-1 in her opening match against Sarah Seeman of Cal Lutheran and following with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Kana Moriyama of Caltech.  

Freshman Sarah Bahsoun, seeded No. 5, had a quick 6-1, 6-0 win in her opening match over Alisa Ogranovich of Chapman and then won 6-1, 6-2 over Marghi Andreassi of Pomona-Pitzer. Junior Jessie Cruz, who is seeded seventh, won 6-1, 6-3 over Jacinta Chen of Pomona-Pitzer and then took a 6-4, 6-4 decision over Karen Kobayashi of Redlands. 

In addition to the CMS vs. CMS matchup between Cox and Lee tomorrow, Allen will face eighth-seeded Arianna Chen of Pomona-Pitzer, who won two three-setters on Friday, including one over CMS freshman Georgia Tuckerman. Bahsoun will face No. 29 seed Christie Kurdys of Cal Lutheran, who won by default in the first round and then took a three-setter in the second, and Cruz will meet second-seeded Caroline Casper of Pomona-Pitzer. 

On the doubles side, Juan and Lauren Yamagami, the No. 13 seed, earned an 8-3 win in their first match against Chapman, while Lee and Cruz, the No. 6 seed, picked up an 8-2 win over Whittier. No. 1 seed Allen and Cox, and No. 3 seed Bahsoun and Juliette Martin had opening round byes.

CMS is the defending Division III National Champions after taking the program's first-ever title a year ago at home at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.