RIVERSIDE — The Westmont women’s tennis team (0-4) traveled down to NCAA Div. I UC Riverside (2-5) on Friday and fell 5-2 to the Anteaters in their fourth match of the young season.
“Overall, it was another match filled with high-level and competitive tennis and we held our own,” said Westmont associate head coach Cade Pierson. In doubles play, the first match to finish was on court three, where Sophia Lazzaroni and Sydney Tran handed Francesca Aguirre and Sophia Ostovany a 6-2 loss. Then, on court one, Rachal Jackson and Emily Peterson gave an admirable effort, but ultimately fell to Mahli Silpachai and Hanh Pham 6-4.
Court two saw the most competitive match of day but unfortunately for the Warriors, the Anteaters had already claimed the doubles point. Regardless, Natalie Shama and Serina Saltzen outlasted Christine Hemry and Olivia Madarang by a score of 7-5 to sweep the first portion of the match.
“In doubles, we’ve been dealing with a lot of different shifts in momentum,” noted Pierson. “Today, I thought we did a good job of starting out as the proactive, stronger, and more aggressive team rather than being reactive.
“Our opponents did a good job of raising their level as the match went on and I would have liked our team to maintain their early momentum, but I was satisfied with their poise.”
Singles play began with a point for the Warriors when Silpachai was forced to retire ahead of the second set on court one. Jackson took the first set 6-2 before the match ended prematurely.
Then the Anteaters took over and collected the next three points of the match.
On court two, Pham defeated Peterson 6-2, 6-1, and on court five, Saltzen defeated Madarang by the same score.
On court six, Tran bested Ostovany 6-2, 6-2 and on court four, Lazzaroni defeated Hemry 6-3, 6-0.
The match officially came to an end when Aguirre defeated Shama 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 on court three, earning Westmont their second point of the match.
“In singles, I was really proud of the wins that Rachal and Francesca had,” expressed Pierson. “Rachal did a great job of frustrating her opponent with a strong mentality and consistency. Francesca did a great job problem solving and focusing on herself to win playing her style of tennis.
“On the other courts, we did a good job of competing and adjusting to our opponents and the windy weather. We didn’t give anything away for free. That being said, I’d like to see us continue to improve in how we execute and capitalize on the opportunities we create.”
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
email: sports@newspress.com
