Chapman women bounce back against West Region foes

ORANGE, Calif. –  Following back-to-back losses for the first time this season, the Chapman University women’s tennis team rebounded with a pair of important home wins against West Region rivals on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Panthers defeated Whitworth University 6-3 on Tuesday and handed Linfield College (Ore.) an 8-1 defeat on Wednesday, both at the Chapman Tennis Courts.

Chapman 6, Whitworth 3
The Panthers snapped a brief two-match losing streak thanks to their strong doubles play. Chapman swept all three doubles matches, including an 8-0 victory by nationally-ranked duo Liz Lewis and Kelley Fox. The juniors, ranked No. 15 in Division III, were also in need of a bounce-back victory having suffered back-to-back defeats a week earlier.

Chapman and Whitworth split the singles play 3-3, but not before Lewis won her eighth consecutive singles match this spring and improved to 16-0 overall. Lewis, ranked No. 10 in the nation, blanked Pirates’ No. 1 Rachel Burns, 6-0, 6-0. Fox was also victorious in the No. 2 singles position, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, to improve to 4-1 in her past five matches.

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wten/2009-10/stats/WHTW-CU.htm

Chapman 8, Linfield 1
Doubles partners Lewis and Fox improved to 6-3 this season with an 8-6 win over Linfield’s Sallie Katter and Abby Olbrich. Lewis and Fox were down 5-4 before rallying to win four of the next five sets and the match. The win spurred the Panthers to their second doubles sweep in as many days.

Chapman (7-3) went on to win its first five matches in singles play – all in straight sets – to seal the victory. Lewis ran her singles winning streak to 17 straight and Fox won her third consecutive match.

Freshmen Candace Scholler, Genna Ford and Amy Logan also won in the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 positions, respectively.

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wten/2009-10/stats/LIN-CU.htm

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director