Allen, Cox Take ITA West Region Doubles Championship, Allen Finishes as Singles Runner-Up
Singles Results
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior Catherine Allen and sophomore Caroline Cox captured the 2018 ITA West Region Doubles Championship with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Arianna Chen and Caroline Casper of Pomona-Pitzer on Sunday afternoon at Pomona-Pitzer's Pauley Courts.
With the regional title, Allen and Cox will move on to the ITA Nationals in two weeks, which will be held in Rome, Georgia. Allen also played in the singles final with a chance to reach the ITA Nationals in both singles and doubles, but ended up the runner-up to Casper, who emerged in a three-hour match with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 win.
Allen and Cox won twice on Sunday to emerge as the tournament champions. Their first match in the morning came against Pomona-Pitzer's Marghi Andreassi and Maria Lyven in the semifinals, and they emerged with a quick 8-2 win. Chen and Casper, meanwhile, first had to battle the CMS team of Jessie Cruz and Sydney Lee in their semifinal, and they used a late break to come away with an 8-5 win to advance to meet Allen and Cox in the final.
The Athenas team got off to torrid start, winning the first set 6-0, but the second was tighter. Cox and Allen took two straight games to pull ahead 5-2, but the Sagehen team got a service break to stay in it. CMS broke right back, though, and finished off the win as Allen put away a short ball at the net on match point.
WTEN: The Athenas are ITA West Region Doubles Champions! Catherine Allen and Caroline Cox take a 6-0, 6-2 over P-P win, with Allen finishing it off at the net at match point here. Allen plays in singles final next (also vs P-P). pic.twitter.com/2nJfi9Ryqi
— CMS Athletics (@AthleticsCMS) September 30, 2018
Allen looked to carry that momentum over into singles, as she won a long first set from Casper 7-6, dominating the tiebreaker 7-1. Casper moved ahead 4-2 in the second set, but Allen broke back and pulled even at 4-4. However, Casper took the next two games to win the second set 6-4 and force it to a third. After the two players exchanged games early in the third set, Casper surged ahead, winning a long game after several deuce points to take a 5-2 lead, and finished off the 6-2 win when an Allen shot sailed long.
The CMS women's tennis team is in the process of defending its first-ever national title, as it captured the 2018 Division III National Championship in May, defeating Emory in the final 5-4 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
