Lewis and Fox advance to doubles semis at Ojai

OJAI, Calif. -  The West Region's No. 3-ranked doubles team of Liz Lewis and Kelley Fox advanced to the semifinal round of the Independent Colleges doubles bracket at the 109th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Friday afternoon. The Chapman University duo, seeded No. 8 in the tournament, earned a 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) victory over No. 3 seed Marcela Montanha and Dunya Wren of Cal Baptist University to advance to the Final Four on Saturday.

Lewis and Fox will face Point Loma Nazarene's Rachel Owens and Kristin Strimple at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Ojai. Owen and Strimple are the No. 6 seed in the event.

Lewis and Fox also won their earlier match on Friday, a straight-sets victory 6-3, 6-0 over Concordia University's Christina Flor and Johanna Sceresini in the Round of 16. The sophomore pair improved to 20-4 overall and won their 12th consecutive match.

Chapman's No. 2 doubles team also had a victory in its opening round of competition. Junior Manon Pochet and freshman Cassady Sirois defeated Cal State San Bernardino's Allison Brooks and Janay Palicte in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the Round of 32. Pochet and Sirois then ran into the bracket's top-seeded Vanessa Heroux and Katia Sabate from Fresno Pacific and lost 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday afternoon.

In singles play, Lewis has advanced to the semifinals of the Independent Colleges bracket with three consecutive wins on Thursday and Friday. Lewis, the No. 9 seed in the tournament, defeated No. 16 Rebecca Lange from Pomona-Pitzer in straight sets on Friday morning, 6-3, 6-2 and improved to 15-1 this spring; 22-2 overall this season. Lewis will next face Sabate, the No. 1 seed, on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Chapman's Fox and Pochet also won their opening round singles matches on Thursday before falling in the Round of 32 to seeded opponents.

For complete draws and results all weekend long:
http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=80409