Claremont, Calif. - The No. 12 ranked Pomona-Pitzer Women's Tennis team won the final two singles points to take a 5-4 win over No. 7 Bowdoin on Sunday afternoon at Pauley Tennis Complex.

The win improves the Sagehens to 6-2 this season, including two wins over top-10 teams this week, after also defeating No. 8 Carnegie Mellon 5-4 on Thursday. Bowdoin falls to 3-2 on the season with the loss, after also falling 5-4 to No. 5 CMS yesterday.

Senior Sammy Chao (pictured) tied the match 4-4 after coming back from down 5-2 in a third-set tiebreaker to win five straight points and take the match 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) over Kate Winingham at No. 1 singles. Chao was also part of the swing point in doubles, combining with doubles partner Lea Lynn Yen for a 9-7 win at No. 1 to make the score 2-1.  

The match then came down to No. 5 singles, where freshman Rosemary Pelch was battling fellow-freshman Pilar Giffenig. After Chao's win, Pelch was serving ahead 4-3 in the third set after breaking in the first game. Giffenig broke Pelch's serve to get back level at 4-4, but Pelch broke right back for the chance to serve for the match.

After missing out on two match points and with the score at deuce, Pelch hit a terrific shot as she chased down a ball in the corner on her forehand side and sent a crosscourt passing shot out of the reach of Giffenig charging the net. On the third match point, Giffenig hit a shot that carried long, giving Pelch the 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win and the Sagehens the 5-4 team victory.

The Sagehens led 2-1 after doubles, and 3-1 after senior Arthi Padmanabhan picked up a quick 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles. However, Bowdoin responded with wins at No. 2 (Tiffany Cheng), No. 3 (Joulia Likhanskaia) and No. 6 (Emma Lewis) to take a 4-3 lead. Padmanabhan and sophomore Mae Coyiuto earned a win at No. 3 doubles 8-6, leveling the match after Bowdoin won 8-3 at No. 2.

Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action tomorrow for a 9:30 a.m. match against No. 4 Amherst.