Catherine Allen - Women's Tennis
CLAREMONT, Calif. - There wasn't much drama in the SCIAC Women's Tennis Championship as the No. 2 Athenas cruised past No. 5 Pomona-Pitzer for a 5-0 shutout win. A hidden storyline, though, was junior Catherine Allen, who turned the tables on the only player to beat her in singles this season, with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 over Caroline Casper, the fifth-ranked singles player in the country.
Allen has had a spectacular junior campaign, coming into the last week of the regular season undefeated in dual singles matches (12-0) and undefeated against Division III competition (22-0) at No. 1 doubles with Caroline Cox (the duo has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in Division III all season, with their only loss coming to Division II UC San Diego). In the regular season finale, though, Allen fell to Casper for her first dual singles loss of the year and only her second singles loss overall, with the other also coming to Casper in the ITA West Regional championship match in the fall.
In the SCIAC Championship match, Allen and Cox picked up their usual win at No. 1 doubles as CMS swept for a 3-0 lead, and the Athenas played well enough in singles where the outcome of the match and the SCIAC Championship wasn't much in doubt. Allen, though, played one of her best matches of the season in earning the 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles, re-enforcing her status as a national championship contender in singles.
The two players could meet up again in the NCAA Regional finals, as CMS will serve as host for a five-team regional, opening up play on Saturday against the winner of Friday's match between Linfield and UT Dallas. If CMS wins that one, and Pomona-Pitzer defeats Trinity in the other semifinal, the Sixth Street Rivalry will have a third match-up in a span of three weeks.