Claremont, Calif. - The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Tennis team swept doubles and picked up two quick singles wins to take a 5-0 win over UC Santa Cruz in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Tournament on Friday at CMS.

With the win, the Sagehens improve to 16-6 on the season and advance to take on La Verne tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the regional semifinals. La Verne defeated Pomona-Pitzer 7-2 in the SCIAC semifinals last week, with the Sagehens winning the first meeting in the regular season 6-3.

There was little drama in the match, as Pomona-Pitzer led 4-0, 3-0, 4-0 in doubles before the Banana Slugs won their first game. UC Santa Cruz was able to creep back within 5-3 at No. 1 doubles, but Sammy Chao (pictured) and Lea Lynn Yen took momentum back and won 8-4 for the first doubles point.

Moments after the win at No. 1, Maddie Gordon and Claire Willey took a 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles. The Sagehens then completed the sweep at No. 2 with an 8-3 victory from Arthi Padmanabhan and Lea Lynn Yen.

The singles portion of the match also ended quickly, as Gordon rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 to make the score 4-0. The Sagehens had several other players closing in on the clinching win, but Chao was able to get there first with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 2, halting the match as the Sagehens took the 5-0 win.  

Pomona-Pitzer and La Verne had a close battle in the SCIAC semis, with La Verne winning all three doubles decisions, two by tiebreaker and one 9-7 (fighting off match points on two of the three courts). The Leopards kept that momentum up in singles and prevailed 7-2 with two more tiebreaker wins for the final two points.

The Pomona-Pitzer/La Verne winner will advance to Sunday's regional finals, which will be at 12 noon at CMS.