PASADENA, Calif. – The Caltech Beavers began their season with a huge win against Bates College on Thursday evening, defending their No. 33 national ranking with a 6-1 team victory. The triumph was Head Coach Rachel Viollet's first win at the helm for Caltech Women's Tennis.

"I was really proud of the way our girls battled," said Viollet. "The elements were tough last night, especially the weather conditions, but they never waverd and stayed poised and focused, and competed really well."

Caltech quickly set the tone in the doubles session; the first match in favor of the Caltech Beavers saw sophomore Naya Kessman (Fayetteville, Ark. / Haas Hall Academy) and sophomore Polaris Hayes (Robbinsville, N.J. / The Pennington School) finish 6-1 in second doubles. Katelyn Waugh (Stevenson Ranch, Calif. / Trinity Classical Academy) and Aoi Kunimoto (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo) followed with a close 6-4 victory on Court 3 to clinch the doubles decision for the Beavers. Throughout the entirety of the match Kunimoto and Waugh had a flowing partnership, finishing it with a win despite a close match. The Beavers nearly swept the doubles session as Carissa Gerung (Portland, Ore. / Jesuit) and Anna Szczuka (Scotch Plains, N.J. , Scotch-Plains Fanwood High School) took the top Bates pair to a marathon tiebreak on Court 1, just falling short as the visitors prevailed 14-12 after the extra rallies for a 7-6 set win.

After the intermission, Caltech turned up the heat and cruised to a team victory in Singles. Kessman, Hayes, Kunimoto, and Zhan (Vancouver, B.C. / David Thompson Secondary) finished the night with straight set victories, Kunimoto with an unblemished 6-0, 6-0 mark followed by Kessman's 6-2, 6-1 finish. Hayes ended up clinching the win for Caltech in third singles with a 6-1, 6-2 result, and Zhan was victorious in her Caltech debut on Court 6 with a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Gerung and Szczuka both rallied to 6-1 second-set wins after narrowly dropping their opening sets 7-5. With the team match decided, the remaining singles matches were decided by 10-point tiebreaks. Szczuka held on for a #2 Singles victory with a 10-7 score in the deciding frame.

Head Coach Rachel Viollet and the Beavers will continue to build off of tonight's win, and will bring the energy into their next match Feb. 18 at 11 a.m. against Hope International University in Fullerton, California.