Claremont, Calif. - Nicole Holsted (Edmond, Okla.) celebrated her Senior Day with wins in both singles and doubles to lead the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Tennis team, ranked No. 15 nationally, to a 6-3 win over No. 22 Redlands on Sunday.
(pictured: Sagehens four seniors prior to match (L to R): Ellie Shanholt, Nicole Holsted, Chelsey Kitazawa, Emily Kawahara)
With the win, the Sagehens improve to 12-6 overall and 6-1 in the SCIAC and will likely be the second seed in the SCIAC Tournament on May 4-5. Redlands is now 12-5 and 5-1 after suffering its first conference loss and can still force a three-way tie with an upset win over unbeaten CMS tomorrow.
Holsted teamed with fellow senior Emily Kawahara (Sacramento, Calif.) to take an 8-4 win at No. 3 doubles and then took her singles match 7-5, 6-4 over Shannon Cassidy. She rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the first set by winning five straight games, taking set point on a desperation defensive lob off her backhand that fell perfectly into the corner up 40-30.
Sammy Chao (Hong Kong, China) finished off the regular season unbeaten in singles (10-0) with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 2, and also teamed with doubles partner Arthi Padmanabhan (Saratoga, Calif.) for a 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles. Chao had a service winner at deuce and then ripped a forehand winner for match point, which gave the Sagehens a 2-1 lead heading into singles.
Jamie Solomon (Los Gatos, Calif.) had a strong singles performance as well, rallying back from a 4-1 deficit at No. 1 to take the first set 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreaker) and then used that momentum for a 6-0 win in the second set, which clinched the team win for Pomona-Pitzer. Padmanabhan added a singles win at No. 3 for the Sagehens, earning a 6-2, 6-4 victory to go with her doubles win with Chao.
Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action next weekend when it participates in the prestigous Ojai Tournament in its final tune-up before the SCIAC Championships in two weeks at Cal Lutheran.
Doubles:
1) Jessica Ly/Shannon Cassidy (UR) def Jamie Solomon/Kara Wang 8-1
2) Sammy Chao/Arthi Padmanabhan (PP) def Ceara Sumida/Julia Pollak 9-7
3) Emily Kawahara/Nicole Holsted (PP) def Maddie Morton/Paige Press 8-4
Singles:
1) Jamie Solomon (PP) def Jessica Ly 7-6 (4), 6-0
2) Sammy Chao (PP) def Ceara Sumida 6-1, 6-1
3) Arthi Padmanabhan (PP) def Maddie Morton 6-2, 6-4
4) Paige Press (UR) def Jessica Hsu 6-0, 6-0
5) Nicole Holsted (PP) def Shannon Cassidy 7-5, 6-4
6) Julia Pollak (UR) def Emily Kawahara 6-2, 6-1
