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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The Westmont Women’s Tennis team was forced to play its second game of the season one player short because of the flu making its way through the roster. As a consequence, the Warriors spotted the Regals of California Lutheran two points and fell by a score of 8-1.

In doubles play, Sarah Louie and Sarah Chhum fell to Jordan Leckness and Holly Beaman by a score of 8-2, playing on the number two court. At number one, Cassie Strange and Illissa Mathews forced the match to a tiebreaker, but fell in the final game 7-2.

Mathews picked up the Warriors’ only point with a decisive 6-1, 6-3 win over Leckness at number two singles. Louis lost at number three singles by a score of 6-2, 6-2 to Kim Kolibas while Chhum was swept at number four (6-0, 6-0) by Beaman. With the match already decided, the remaining two singles sets were decided by super-breakers.

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Fans of Westmont Athletics can now receive text message alerts on their cell phones or by email.

The eScores service will allow subscribers to choose to receive text messages on any or all of the 12 Westmont Athletic Teams. Users can elect to receive scores, broadcast reminders and headlines and general information. With the new service, Westmont fans will receive information about their favorite teams and players faster than ever.

The eScores service will be offered free of charge, though standard text messaging fees from a users’ cell phone provider will apply.

To sign-up for text messaging, visit the Westmont Athletics Web Site and click on the eScores logo.

Westmont’s Abbott Tennis Courts hosted a match-up of ranked women’s teams on Tuesday afternoon, but unfortunately for the Warriors, the visiting Lions of Vanguard claimed a 6-3 Golden State Athletic Conference win. Vanguard, ranked ninth in the NAIA, took a 2-1 lead in doubles play over the twenty-first ranked Warriors and then won four of six singles matches.

Sophomore Ilissa Mathews and junior Cassie Strange notched an 8-3 win at number one doubles over the Lions’ Hana Jurcovicova and Maria Fernanda Xavier. The match marked the first time either player had recorded a win against a Vanguard opponent.

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