Westmont Women’s Tennis’ four-game trip to the desert came to a strange ending today at the Plaza Racquet Club in Palm Springs. After completing the singles matches against #4 Point Loma Nazarene, the Warriors and Sea Lions began to play their doubles matches. But the host facility decided they needed the courts and asked the two teams to leave before the Golden State Athletic Conference Match could be completed. Point Loma Nazarene (10-1, 7-1 GSAC) was credited with a 6-0 win after sweeping #14 Westmont (3-10, 3-6 GSAC) in singles.

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Cassie Strange returned to the #14 Westmont Women’s Tennis lineup for today’s match against #17 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), but the Westmont Warriors fell to the Warriors of Lewis-Clark State by a score of 6-3. The two teams faced off at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage

Strange and Ilissa Mathews earned a hard fought win at number one doubles, defeating Megan Smedley and Dorothy Chong 9-8. The Westmont duo won the tiebreaker 7-5. In other doubles action, Lewis-Clark State’s Katharina Marsela and Samantha Teigen defeated Westmont’s Tara Yekrang and Sarah Louie 8-5 on the number two court. At number three, Chelsea Gay and Ciara Schultz earned an 8-2 victory over Westmont’s Hanna Day and Sarah Chhum.

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In a final practice session before heading off on a spring break road trip, #14 Westmont Women’s Tennis suffered the loss of their number one singles player Cassie Strange to an ankle injury. Strange, who normally teams up with Ilissa Mathews at number one doubles, is out for an indefinite period of time. The senior will likely not play in any of the Warriors’ four matches – all against ranked opponents – over the next five days.

The Warriors’ first stop was at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center where #9 Vanguard swept Westmont 9-0. Because of Strange’s absence, the Warriors were forced to forfeit the number six singles and number three doubles matches.

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Westmont Women’s Tennis (3-6) hosted Vassar (N.Y.) (8-1) in a non-conference match on Wednesday at the Abbott Tennis Courts and lost to the NCAA Division III Brewers by a score of 8-1. The Warriors’ only win came at number one doubles where Ilissa Matthews and Cassie Strange earned an 8-4 victory over Nicole Pontee and Joy Backer.

In other doubles action, Jennifer Beckerman, a Santa Barbara High School alumna, and her partner Nicole Block defeated Tara Yekrang and Sarah Louie 8-3 on the number two court. At number three, Natalie Santiago and Alyssa Roush defeated Sarah Chhum and Audrey Severson 8-0.

The Brewers swept singles action which culminated on the number two court where Beckerman defeated Mathews 6-4, 6-4. Pontee earned a 6-0, 6-2 win over Strange, while at number three, Becker defeated Yekrang 6-2, 6-1.

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In an effort to play a match scheduled for this afternoon with Biola before the forecasted heavy rains reached Santa Barbara, #15 Westmont Women’s Tennis (2-4, 2-2 GSAC) moved up its match from a 2:00 p.m. start time to 11:30 a.m. The earlier start time appears to have agreed with the Warriors who defeated the Eagles (1-5, 0-5 GSAC) by an 8-1 score on the Abbott Tennis Courts in a Golden State Athletic Conference match.

The Warriors swept the double matches beginning on the number one court where Cassie Strange and Ilissa Mathews defeated Joelle Tanaka and Samantha Weng 8-1. At number three, Sarah Chhum and Hanna Day claimed an 8-3 victory over Marvelous Beckman and Danielle Calbeck. The number two match was a bit closer, but Tara Yekrang and Sarah Louie prevailed 8-6 over Christine Garner and Kristen Williams.

By Kathy LeSage

As the 2010 season begins, Westmont Women’s Tennis is looking to make their twenty-fourth trip to the NAIA National Tournament in the last 29 years. In 2009, the Warriors missed a trip to the NAIA Nationals but ended the season ranked at number 21 nationally.

Senior Cassie Strange will try her hand at the #1 singles position this year. In the 2009 season, Strange had the best record on the team at 10-10 playing at the number two singles spot. Strange is a very experienced player who knows how to compete with the top players. Her goal this year is to maximize her assets as an all-court player – looking to attack the net whenever possible.

Ilissa Mathews is off to a great start playing in the number two singles position. She has posted straight set wins over four of her five opponents thus far. This includes a win over twenty-ninth ranked Nathalie NcNall. Mathews missed the fall preseason while she was traveled to Europe with Westmont’s off-campus program. She is starting to regain her form and become a huge threat to the powerhouse teams in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Mathews is petite in stature but can wallop the ball and surprise unsuspecting opponents.

Westmont Women’s Tennis (1-3) suffered a 6-3 road loss on Saturday at the hands of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Junior Ilissa Mathews won both her singles and doubles matches for the Warriors.

At number one doubles Mathews and Cassie Strange teamed up to earn an 8-4 victory over Katie Lorish and Jaclyn Smrecek. The Athenas, however, won at both number two and three doubles. On the number two court, Caroline Day and Alexandra Hsu defeated Tara Yekrang and Sarah Louie by a score of 8-1. Ali Feldhausen and Riley Thomlison claimed an 8-2 victory over Sarah Chhum and Hanna Day at number three doubles.

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Westmont Women’s Tennis, ranked at number 17 in the NAIA Preseason Polls, earned its first win of the season with a 9-0 sweep of the Royals of Hope International. The Royals showed up for the match with only four players and were forced to forfeit one doubles match and two singles matches.

At number one doubles, Westmont Cassie Strange and Ilissa Mathews defeated Kristine Brock and Lauren Garcia 8-1. While at number two, Sarah Louie and Tara Yekrang won by a score of 8-0.

The Warriors swept the singles match-ups without surrendering a single game, producing a 6-0, 6-0 score in every match. Strange defeated Brock at number one and Mathews won at number two over Garcia. At number three, Sarah Chhum earned the win over Afaung while Hanna Day notched the victory at number four over Rogers.

With the win the Warriors improve to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in Golden State Athletic Conference action. Hope International falls to 0-3 over and 0-2 in the conference.

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