Claremont, Calif. - Senior Nicole Holsted (Edmond, Okla. - pictured) helped the No. 3 doubles team to a 9-8 tiebreaker win, then rallied for a three-set win in singles to help the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Tennis team to a 5-2 win over Trinity (Texas) in the NCAA Regional semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Pomona-Pitzer improves to 16-7 overall and moves on to face top-seeded CMS on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the regional finals, for the right to advance to the NCAA Championships in Cary, North Carolina.
Holsted and doubles partner Emily Kawahara (Sacramento, Calif.) helped turn the momentum with a 9-8 win (7-2 in the tiebreaker) to give the Sagehens a 2-1 lead going into singles. Sophomores Sammy Chao (Hong Kong, China) and Arthi Padmanbhan (Saratoga, Calif.) had an easier win at No. 2 doubles, winning 8-2, while No. 1 doubles went to Trinity 9-7.
The Sagehens struggled in the early part of the singles competition, dropping the first set in five of the six matches, with only junior Kara Wang (Saratoga, Calif.) earning a 7-5 win to prevent Trinity from the clean sweep. However, Pomona-Pitzer then dug down and turned the match its way, as Wang finished off a two-set win to make the overall match score 3-1, and Holsted and Chao took their matches over.
After falling in the first set 6-3, Holsted bounced back to win the second 6-3 and the dominated the third against Stephanie Williamson, winning 6-1. Chao, meanwhile, dropped the first set to Thavindra Ekanayake of Trinity 6-3 and was down 2-0 in the second set, when she caught fire and won eight straight games to win the second set 6-2 and take a 2-0 lead in the third.
After Ekanayake won the third game to pull within 2-1, Chao ripped off four more consecutive wins for a 6-1 victory which sealed the 5-2 team win. The victory improved Chao's record to 14-0 against Division III opponents this fall (her only loss came to a nationally ranked Division II player at the Ojai Tournament).
Junior Jamie Solomon (Los Gatos, Calif.) fell 7-5, 7-5 at No. 1 singles, just before Chao finished off the team win at No. 2. Padmanabhan was also close to finishing off her match, as she led 5-3 in the third set.
Pomona-Pitzer and CMS will be meeting for the third time this season. In the regular season meeting, the Athenas cruised to a 9-0 win, but the second time was much closer, as the Sagehens fell just 5-4 in the SCIAC Championship match.
Pomona-Pitzer 5, Trinity University (TX) 2
Doubles
1. Knoop-Ekanayake (TU) def. Solomon-Wang 9-7
2. Chao-Padmanabhan (P-P) def. Griffith-Hornbeck 8-2
3. Holsted-Emily Kawahara (P-P) def. Kassie Seger-Williamson 9-8 (2)
Singles
1. Mackenzie Knoop (TU) def. Jamie Solomon 7-5, 7-5
2. Samantha Chao (P-P) def. Thavindra Ekanayake 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. Kara Wang (P-P) def. Katie Griffith 7-5, 6-3
6. Nicole Holsted (P-P) def. Stephanie Williamson 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
(No. 4 and No. 5 singles did not finish once team win was clinched)
Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 3, 6, 1, 2
Order of finish:
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 3, 6, 1, 2
