OS ANGELES, CALIF. (Mar. 26, 2009)
– After cruising in an earlier match this week, the Tigers
were confronted with all they could handle, by UC Santa Cruz in a
home dual match. The Banana Slugs started out quickly,
surging ahead 4-1, before the Tigers rallied to win four straight
matches, securing their third consecutive victory by the score of
5-4.
Oxy dropped two of three doubles matches, with
their lone win coming from the team of Katrina Gould /
Briana Cartwright. The duo cruised to an 8-3 win,
which cut the UC Santa Cruz lead to one, but was not enough to stem
the tide.
The Banana Slugs opened singles play with
back-to-back victories, putting them one win away from clinching
the match, with four matches to play. Once again the Oxy
depth proved to be the difference as the Tigers responded with four
sweeps at #3 through 6 singles to eek out a 5-4 win.
Marissa Cassman got things
going with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at the number three spot, pushing her
individual win-streak to six matches. In the first singles match of
her collegiate career, Stephanie Babij sealed the
deal at the #6 spot, closing out the day with a 6-0, 6-0 victory to
clinch the match. Maybe more importantly on the day was the victory
that Oxy's freshman Frances Hutton produced
at the #5 spot, battling to a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
While Babij and Hutton both pulled out wins in
singles play, as a team they opened an early lead in doubles
action, before being overcome by the Banana Slug's #2 doubles
team in the closest match of the day.
Oxy (6-8) will take their win streak back into
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play as
they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at the Burbank Tennis Center on
Friday, April 3 beginning at 2:00 p.m.
Results –
Doubles:
Mannix / Rowe (UCSC) d. Subbiah / Wahba (Oxy)
8-2
Burker / Nichol (UCSC) d. Hutton / Babij (Oxy) 9-7
Gould / Cartwright (Oxy) d. McHugh / Parker (UCSC) 8-3
Singles:
Mannix (UCSC) d. Subbiah (Oxy) 6-0, 6-3
Rowe (UCSC) d. Wahba (Oxy) 6-1, 6-2
Cassman (Oxy) d. Burke (UCSC) 6-2, 6-3
Gould (Oxy) d. Nichol (UCSC) 6-4, 6-2
Hutton (Oxy) d. McHugh (UCSC) 6-2, 6-3
Babij (Oxy) d. Parker (UCSC) 6-0, 6-0
