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California Institute of Technology

Katelyn Waugh returns a ball with a forehand shot

Women's Tennis

Katelyn Waugh Reaches Women's Singles Final at ITA West Regionals

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Caltech Women's Tennis competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Small College Regional Championships this weekend, with six Beavers representing Caltech against a large slate of competitors from across the ITA West Region.

Highlighting the weekend was junior and electrical engineering major Katelyn Waugh (Stevenson Ranch, Calif. / Trinity Classical Academy), who battled all the way to the final of Women's Open Singles Flight C. 

Waugh opened the tournament with a two-set win over Kloe Cotta of SCIAC rival Cal Lutheran on a hot Friday afternoon. She then battled through a blisteringly hot Saturday with commanding wins over Azusa Pacific's Hannah Sonnichsen (6-3, 6-1) in the morning match, followed shortly by an afternoon tilt against Cal Lutheran's Hannah Houwari (6-3, 6-2). Waugh ultimately came up short on Sunday morning against a formidable opponent in Adeline Lai of UC Santa Cruz (6-1, 6-1), but her open singles final appearance was a big highlight for Caltech Women's Tennis history.

Also representing the Beavers were first-years Tvisha Yadiki (Frisco, Texas / Wakeland High School) and Rhana Kang (Omaha, Neb. / Elkhorn South High School), both competing in Flight B of Women's Singles. Kang took down UC Santa Cruz's Chloe Khacadourian before conceding to Sophia Truong of University of Redlands in the Round of 16.

Yadiki defeated Sierra Bolanos of Azusa Pacific University with matching 6-1 sets, and then came from behind to split sets and win the 10-point super tiebreak against Vrishitha Sambathkumar of Redlands, 4-6, 6-3, [10-7]. She nearly claimed her opening quarterfinal set against Cal Lutheran University and #2 seed Anya Rajan but bowed out after 7-5, 6-2 set scores.

Sophomore Tara Zhan (Vancouver, Canada / David Thompson Secondary) also competed in the B bracket, falling in her opening match but bouncing back for a win in the consolation bracket, 0-6, 6-4, [10-5], coming up just short in her consolation quarterfinal.

In Women's Open Doubles action, the first-year/junior duo of Kang and Polaris Hayes (Robbinsville, N.J. / The Pennington School) dominated their Azusa Pacific opposition by an 8-2 margin in their opening match. Also the first-year/sophomore partnership of Yadiki and Zhan prevailed 8-5 over their APU counterparts.

Follow Caltech Women's Tennis at GoCaltech.com and on Instagram.
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Players Mentioned

Polaris Hayes

Polaris Hayes

5' 6"
Junior
Katelyn Waugh

Katelyn Waugh

5' 6"
Junior
Tara Zhan

Tara Zhan

5' 4"
Sophomore
Rhana  Kang

Rhana Kang

5' 3"
First-Year

Players Mentioned

Polaris Hayes

Polaris Hayes

5' 6"
Junior
Katelyn Waugh

Katelyn Waugh

5' 6"
Junior
Tara Zhan

Tara Zhan

5' 4"
Sophomore
Rhana  Kang

Rhana Kang

5' 3"
First-Year