Poets earn second 9-0 sweep of the day against Kalamazoo

Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's tennis team played their second match on the day and cruised to yet again another 9-0 victory sweeping doubles and singles competition in the rout of the Hornets of Kalamazoo.

Whittier now improves to 4-5, 0-1 SCIAC, while Kalamazoo drops to 0-6.

This marks the third straight match the Poets have swept doubles play (Rochester (N.Y.), Mills, Kalamazoo) but they made sure this time around to not surrender the 3-0 lead like they did against Rochester in the 5-4 loss.

With injuries to senior Kady Oliker (ankle) and sophomore Adrienne Hamada (knee) the Poets had to tap into the depth of their lineup to pull off the victory.

Senior Rachel Aelion-Moss stepped into the starting lineup at No. 3 doubles with freshman Benay Weintraub and was very effective both at the net and serving that proved to be a key factor in the win.

Sophomore Bree Campanero made her singles debut recapturing some of the magic that got her to the finals of the back draw at the ITA Fall Championships.  She cruised to the 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 6. 

At No. 1 singles Liliana Serylo battled from a set down to win the ninth game for the Poets.  She dropped the first set 6-2, but came back to secure two breaks in the second winning 6-2, and then rolled through her opponent in the third set 6-1.

Weintraub started off a little slowly at No. 3 dropping the first three games in the first set but fighting back to pull out the first set in a tiebreaker in impressive fashion before leaving little doubt in the second cruising to the 6-1 win.

"This team loses very little when we go to our bench, and in many ways we gain… fresh legs and energy," Coach Bojalad stated. 

This wraps up the Poets seven match home stand as they complete it going 4-3.  They now turn their sights on spring break where they travel to Orlando, Fl. where they will take on George Fox, Pacific (Ore.), and Rollins before coming back home to Southern California to finish up SCIAC competition beginning with the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, March 30 beginning at 2pm.    

Doubles:

1.            Serylo/Dredge (WC) def. Hassevoort/Silverman (Kzoo) 8-2

2.            Hamada/Sugiyama (WC) def. Moran/Bouchard (Kzoo) 8-4

3.            Weintraub/Aelion-Moss (WC) def. Riehl/Zhang (Kzoo) 8-5

Singles:

1.            Liliana Serylo (WC) def. Kelsey Hassevoort (Kzoo) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1

2.            Chloe Dredge (WC) def. Paula Silverman (Kzoo) 6-1, 6-0

3.            Benay Weintraub (WC) def. Kelsey Moran (Kzoo) 7-6(2), 6-1

4.            Rachel Sugiyama (WC) def. Jenna Riehl (Kzoo) 6-3, 6-4

5.            Lauren Gelgur (WC) def. Olivia Bouchard (Kzoo) 6-2, 6-1

6.            Brianna Campanero (WC) def. Cerrie Foura 6-2, 6-2