Westmont College Athletics

By Ron Smith
February 12, 2021
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Women's Tennis, the 19th ranked team in the NAIA, hosted the Eagles of Concordia in the season opener on Wednesday and fell to the NCAA Division II opponent 6-1. Then on Friday, Westmont traveled to William Jessup for the start of Golden State Athletic Conference play and claimed a 6-0 win.

The Eagles took all six singles matches but surrendered the doubles' point when the Warriors took two out of three matches.

Westmont's Rachal Jackson and Olivia Madarang claimed number three doubles with a 6-1 win over Jolin Jennifer and Grace Gorges. Concordia took the win on the number two double's court where Tiffany Carrillo and Taylor Lau prevailed 6-4. That meant the doubles' point came down to the number one match where Cade Pierson and Emily Peterson battled to a 7-6 victory over Camila Tumosa and Heather Richards.

"We've talked a lot as a team about controlling the things we can and letting go of the things we can't control," said Westmont head coach Ellie Johnson. "I am proud of how the team executed that today.  We controlled our attitudes and our effort. Every court fought hard from start to finish. It was exciting to win the doubles point by playing great doubles. We had awesome energy. The players went out ready to take it, and we did. So, I am proud of the way we started the match with winning the doubles point.

"Going into the singles, our lack of practice showed up a little bit, but I was proud of the way the players maintained mental focus and continued to compete hard and focus on the little things of making minor changes throughout the matches."

At number one singles, Pierson split two sets with Ghazal Pakbaten by scores of 6-2 and 2-6. Pakbaten then took the super breaker 10-7. At number two, Tumosa defeated Jackson 6-4, 6-0 while at number three Carrillo picked up a 6-0, 6-3 win over Peterson. 

On the number four court, Richards won 6-2, 6-2 over Sidney Lowry and at number five Lau won 6-2, 6-1 over Hemry. The number six court saw Alyssa Zayat defeat Madarang  6-1, 6-0.
In Friday's GSAC opener, Westmont collected three wins by default. William Jessup fielded a roster of just four players, and therefore had to yield one doubles match and two singles match.
Lowry and Hemry won at number one doubles 6-0 over Aysha Hayes and McKenzie Hawkins. Jackson and Madarang recorded the same score over Ryanda Guerrero and Karen Godinez-Ramos.
 
 
In singles play, Pierson posted a 6-1, 6-0 win over Hayes while Jackson won on court number two by scores of 6-1, 6-3. At number three, Hermy defeated Guerrero 6-0, 6-0. Madarang posted a 6-0 score to take the first set on court four over Godinez-Romero, but the second set was not played since the team win had already been decided.
 
Next weekend the Warriors take a three-match road trip. The first stop on Thursday is at Saint Katherine. On Saturday, Westmont will take on Biola. Then on Saturday, Westmont will be in Santee to face off with San Diego Christian.