Photo by Renee Ye

Los Angeles, CA – The Occidental Women's Tennis Team concluded its season on Saturday by celebrating its six graduating seniors in a home match against Cal Tech. The #40 Tigers played tough but ultimately came up short falling 8-1 to the #21 Beavers. Senior co-captains Andei Fukushige and Sarah Fleming secured the lone point for the Tigers with an 8-5 win at number one doubles. This pushed Fukushige and Fleming's doubles record on the season to an impressive 18-4.

In singles, the Beavers proved to be too tough for the Tigers sweeping all six matches. Fleming battled hard in a three set match at number two singles but was ultimately defeated 6-2,4-6,6-1.

Prior to the match, the Tigers celebrated seniors Fleming, Fukushige, Lillian Lin, Courtney Saqueton, Emma Silber, and Neha D'Souza. These graduating seniors helped lead the Tigers to a successful season that saw the program reach new heights. The Tigers finished with their first national ranking in over a decade coming in at #40 in the latest ITA national rankings. Fukushige is currently the 9^th ranked singles player in the West Region and she and Fleming are the 11^th ranked doubles team. The Tigers had a 10-8 overall record and finished in 6^th place in the SCIAC, one of the toughest conferences in the country.

Caltech 8

Occidental 1

April 22, 2023

Doubles

1. . Andei Fukushige/Sarah Fleming (Oxy) def. A. Arora/E. Zhang (CIT) 8-5

2. Y. Benchetrit/N. Solovyeva (CIT) def. Alexis Matabuena/Mathilde Depery (Oxy) 8-5

3. A. Kolli/P. Patel (CIT) def. Emma Silber/Lillian Lin (Oxy) 8-3

Singles

1. E. Zhang (CIT) def. Andei Fukushige (Oxy) 6-1, 6-2

2. KY. Benchetrit (CIT) def. Sarah Fleming (Oxy) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1

3. A. Arora (CIT) def. Alexis Matabuena (Oxy) 6-3,6-4

4. N. Solovyeva (CIT) def. Julia Chun (Oxy) 7-5, 6-0

5. P. Patel (CIT) def. Emma Silber (Oxy) 6-1,6-2

6. T. Huang (CIT) def. Mathilde Depery (Oxy) 6-1,6-1