PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Women's Tennis defended its spot in the national rankings with a thrilling comeback victory Saturday afternoon, prevailing over the Whitman College Blues 5-4 and winning a fifth consecutive match.
The match got off to a rocky start for the Beavers as the guests quickly claimed two of the three doubles matches, but the #3 Doubles duo of
Athena Kolli and
Payal Patel prevented the Blues from running away with a 3-0 lead by winning the matchup 8-6.
Caltech evened up the match in #2 Singles, where
Yoyo Benchetrit won a 6-3 first set before an injury forced her opponent to retire, but Whitman jumped ahead again with a #1 Singles win. Not long later,
Anna Szczuka sailed to a quick 6-2, 6-0 win on Court 6 to tie the match 3-3.
The Blues claimed their fourth point with a #4 Singles win, leaving Caltech's fate in the hands and rackets of Patel and
Anika Arora. They both won their opening sets by two before dropping their second sets. Patel was down 5-2 in her first set before fighting all the way back, winning five consecutive games to take the set with a 7-5 score, and then she blazed through her third set for a 6-0 score, tying the match one last time at 4-4. With all eyes on Court 3, Arora turned up the heat and finished off her opponent with a match-clinching 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 win, drawing loud cheers from her teammates and the many Caltech Tennis fans in attendance.
"One word: gutsy," Head Coach
Benay Weintraub said of the team's performance. "This match tested us mentally, physically and emotionally right ouf of the gate after finals. I'm so proud of this team. The laser focus and motivation to win, not only for themselves but for the team, is what our culture is all about. It's those details that make a winning difference. Watching the team rally behind Payal and Anika was so fun to experience."
The Beavers look to sustain that momentum tomorrow as they host the Bowdoin College Polar Bears in a Sunday morning matchup at 10 a.m. The match was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was rescheduled due to predicted rainfall.
