CLAREMONT, Calif. — Caltech Women's Tennis competed in the ITA West Regionals this weekend in Claremont, where the rookie duo of Aoi Kunimoto (San Diego / Rancho Bernardo) and Carissa Gerung (Portland, Ore. / Jesuit) came out victorious in the women's open doubles consolation round final with a commanding 8-3 win.

Kunimoto and Gerung started the competition in the women's open doubles main round, dropping a hard-fought match against juniors Kiana Brady and Christine O'Brien (Redlands). 

In the consolation bracket, Kunimoto and Gerung caught a break when an opponent withdrew due to injury which along with a round of 16 bye brought the pair to the quarterfinals. In this round, the opponents had to withdraw due to illness which moved Kunimoto and Gerung to the semifinal round where they faced off versus Sydney La and Lucy Wallin (Chapman). The Caltech duo narrowly came out on top winning 8-7 (7-2) and advancing to the final round. 

The final matchup came down to Allyson Lowe and Avery Hickman (Colorado College). In previous rounds, Lowe and Hickman won decisively 8-2 and 8-4. Their dominance would end in the final round when the Beavers' pair routed them 8-3 and became the victors of the women's open doubles consolation tournament. 

Caltech captured the first game with a break of the Tigers'. The Colorado College partnership then won the next two, but the Beavers countered winning the next game and evening it at 2-2. Lowe and Hickman won the next one gaining a one-game lead again before Kunimoto and Gerung took over winning six straight games to end the match.

The two first-year players ended the ITA West Regionals on a high note with impressive performance and will look to build on it as they take on the spring season. The team officially kicks off the 2025 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. as the Beavers take on Concordia University Irvine at home.

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