PASADENA, Calif. - In a battle of nationally-ranked teams, the No. 40 Whitman College women's tennis team went toe-to-toe with No. 27 Caltech but came up short in a 6-3 loss to the Beavers on Saturday afternoon.
"I'm so proud of the level of the team and how we played much better doubles, the results will keep coming," said coach John Hein. "We also fought incredibly well against a top 30 team in singles. These matches are so exciting and fun as it came down to the wire. Credit to Caltech for winning some big points, but we wouldn't have been in that position without great wins from Ilina and Sascha in doubles and then Teleya and Ilina in singles. Jin was an absolute warrior and Arianna continued to regain her level after a long rehab. Julia was incredible pushing her opponent to the limit. It was a team effort and I'm so proud and excited to play 2 top 10 teams the next two days."
The first doubles result to come through was a victory for the Blues as Illina Jha and Sascha Wells took down Emily Zhang and Anna Szczuka, 8-2, on the No. 2 court. The Beavers won on the No. 1 court and then took the lead after doubles play when the Blues pair of Jin Yu and Grace Carter lost in a tiebreaker 8-7(5).
In singles, Wells lost at the five but Jha pulled out a 6-3, 6-4 win on the No. 3 court as Whitman trailed by only a single point. Teleya Blunt then delivered a solid win at the one, beating Zhang 6-3, 6-3 to even the match.
The next two results featured a pair of tough three-set matches, both going Caltech's way as the Beavers clinched the win. Arianna Castellanos rallied at the four but fell to Payal Patel 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4. The result then was sealed at the two after Yu fell to Hannah Ramsperger 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The Blues continue their road trip on Sunday with a neutral site matchup against Amherst at 2:00 p.m.
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