Athena Sunday: CMS Women's Tennis Has Both Singles Finalists, All Four Doubles Semifinalists at ITA Regionals
Full Bracket/Results
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team will be the only team in action in the A Flights on the final day of the ITA West Regional tomorrow, with senior Catherine Allen and first-year Justine Leong meeting each other in the singles finals at 1 p.m., and the Athenas having all four doubles semifinalists facing off against each other tomorrow morning for the right to reach the 11 a.m. finals.
A successful Saturday saw CMS guarantee itself at least four travelers to the ITA Cup in two weeks for the national competition. Already booking their flights are Allen and Leong, who each moved on to the singles championship tomorrow at 1 p.m. The top two finishers in each event this year move on to the ITA Cup, as opposed to previous years, when only the regional champions advanced.
Allen won both of her matches this afternoon to move on to the nationals, defeating teammate Sydney Lee in the quaterfinals and then knocking off Maria Lyven of Pomona-Pitzer in the semifinals 6-3, 6-4. Leong had a quick 6-1, 6-1 win in the quarterfinals over Georgia Ryan of Pomona-Pitzer and then defeated teammate Rebecca Berger 6-3, 6-3 to earn her spot in the finals, as well as her trip to the ITA Cup.
CMS ended last year with doubles dominance as Allen and Caroline Cox won the Division III Championship over teammates Sarah Bahsoun and Nicole Tan. This year starts out the same way, as all four doubles teams in action in tomorrow's semifinals at 9 a.m. are Athena teams. Allen and Leong advanced with an 8-1 win over Miri Inoue and Tatum Phillips of Chapman, while Anastasia Bryan-Ajania and Devon Wolfe to meet Allen-Leong with an 8-4 win over Lyven and Yurie Heard of Pomona-Pitzer.
In the other half of the bracket, Lee and Madison Shea moved on to the semifinals with an 8-5 win over Ryan and Rebecca Salaway of Pomona-Pitzer, while Crystal Juan and first-year Anna Kern picked up an 8-4 win over Bahsoun and Tan to earn the fourth spot in the semifinals for the Athenas. The two semifinal winners will meet at 11 a.m., with both advancing through to the ITA Cup.
Senior Lauren Yamagami also advanced through to the finals of the B Flight singles, winning her second tiebreaker of the tournament 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 over Nicole Alvarez of Cal Lutheran. She then reached the final round with a 6-1, 6-4 semifinal win over Patria Aziz of Pomona-Pitzer, and will face Kendall Bolock of Redlands tomorrow with a chance to give CMS a clean sweep of the entire tournament.