PASADENA (Feb. 27, 2020) – Thanks to a three-set clincher from junior Sarina Liu (Rolling Hills, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula), the 21st-ranked Caltech women's tennis team pulled through for its first win of the 2020 regular season when they beat No. 30 Christopher Newport University on Wednesday evening.

In order for Liu's victory to put Caltech on top for good, the Beavers needed to erase a 4-3 deficit with the final two singles matches of the evening still in progress. Freshman Nina Solovyeva (Houston, Texas / Memorial) caused the first domino to fall with a three-set win of her own at sixth singles, one in which she came back from a 4-6 first set to win the second set 6-1 and inevitably pull through in a match-deciding tiebreaker, 7-6 (1). The rookie's triumph then gave Liu the confidence needed to put her opponent away in the third set. After splitting the first two sets 6-0, 3-6, Liu played a loose third set and ultimately came up with the 6-4 walkoff win on home court.

"We had the most amazing team energy today," Head Coach Mandy Gamble said. "It was probably the best team effort I've ever been apart of. We were all behind each other and got rolling the longer the matches went on. Our fighting spirit pulled us through and I'm very proud of our 'Super 6.'"

Liu, along with sophomore Anna Tifrea (Fullerton, Calif. / Troy) earned a crucial victory earlier in the day at first doubles when they defeated their opponents 7-2 in the deciding tiebreaker. From there, Tifrea, along with sophomore Jennifer Yu (Queens, N.Y. / Stuyvesant) rolled as the Beavers' top-two singles players. First, Tifrea took care of business 6-0, 6-0 at first singles, and Yu followed her with the second fastest singles result of the day by winning her match 6-3, 6-2. Meanwhile, the Beavers had further chances moving down the singles lineup. Sophomore Michelle Hyun (Cerritos, Calif. / Gretchen Whitney) took her opponent to a second-set tiebreaker (6-3, 7-6 (7)), and junior Ankita Roychoudhury (Madison, Conn. / Daniel Hand) went three sets with her opponent at fifth singles, but ultimately came up short after taking the first set (6-4, 2-6, 4-6).

Gamble and the Beavers will see if they can leverage their momentum into another victory on Friday, Mar. 6 when they host No. 16 University of Mary Washington at 3 p.m.

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