CMS Women's Tennis Wins ITA Regional Titles in Singles (Wurster), Doubles (Lee/Eisenman)

CLAREMONT, Calif. - First-year Katherine Wurster bounced back from a first-set defeat to win the ITA West Regional singles championship 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 over top-seeded Angie Zhou of Pomona-Pitzer, while Gabby Lee and Lindsay Eisenman won an all-CMS doubles final 10-8 in a third-set tiebreaker on the final day of the three-day tournament on Sunday at the Biszantz Family Tennis center.

Wurster, Eisenman and Lee all earn All-America honors for their regional championships, which will be announced at the conclusion of the spring season, while Devon Wolfe and Alisha Chulani, the runners-up in the doubles tournament, will join their three teammates at the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia in two weeks. 

The twin championships wrap up a dominant week for the Athenas, who boasted seven of the eight singles quarterfinalists and all four doubles semifinalists. The one question mark was whether anyone from CMS would be able to knock off Zhou, the top seed, who was the NCAA singles runner-up a year ago. 

Wurster rose to the challenge after dropping the first set 6-2. She fell into a 3-0 hole early, but found her footing a bit in the second half of the set before falling 6-3 and was able to regroup for the second set, starting out with a break. She held on for a 6-3 win, and then jumped out to a 2-0 lead again in the third set, before Zhou bounced back to take the next two games. However, Wurster withstood the rally and surged back ahead, setting up match point with a pair of cross-court winners. Zhou fought the first match point off to force deuce, but Wurster forced a defensive shot from Zhou to sail long, wrapping up the three-set victory. 

In doubles, Lee and Eisenman took the first set, before Wolfe and Chulani bounced back to get the split in the second. The doubles final went to a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set, and it was tied 8-8, before Lee had back-to-back volleys at the net to win the match. Wolfe and Chulani had won two tiebreakers along the way to advance to the finals, and will head to the ITA Cup as one of the favorites to win. 

The ITA Cup will take place from Oct. 13-16 at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia, and will feature 16 singles competitors and 16 doubles teams looking to win a fall national title. The Athenas are coming off a team national championship last spring, the second in program history, and will look to continue their championship tradition this fall as well.