Tennis teams begin year at ITA West Regional

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Chapman University men's and women's tennis teams traveled to Claremont this past weekend to participate in the 2016 USTA/ITA Division III West Regional Championships. Seniors Charlie Werman and Josh Sarsfield highlighted the weekend with a run into the semifinals of the doubles bracket.

In men's open doubles play, the duo of Sarsfield-Werman won their first three matches and became the only Panther team to make it to the semifinals of the tournament. They won each of their first three matches by a score of 8-6 but eventually lost to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' duo by a score of 8-4 in semis. Sophomore Mathew Mead and his partner Brock Dehaven dropped their first round match to a pair from Pomona-Pitzer.

Sarsfield led off men's open singles play with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Pomona-Pitzer in the first round. He then went on to rout his opponent from Whittier 6-1, 6-0 in the consolation round, but withdrew in the second consolation round. Sophomore Dehaven> and junior Rasmus Helms both fell in the first round.

Werman defeated his opponent from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first round by a score of 7-5, 6-3 but eventually fell in the round of 32. Werman continued on to the second round of the consolation bracket and won 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 to move on to the consolation quarterfinals. Werman's run ended there with a 6-4, 6-4 loss.

Three of four of the Chapman women's open singles players made it to the round of 32 in the tournament. Freshman Jaye-Lyn Orikasa dropped a 6-1, 6-0 match after a first-round bye. Sophomore Nicole Fouts moved into the second round with a hard-fought first round match 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), but fell in the next round. Senior Madeline Saunders advanced to the second round of play with a 6-3, 6-0 win, but did not make it past the round of 32. Freshman Raven Hampton made her Panther debut but dropped both matches.

The duos of Orikasa-Saunders and Fouts-Hampton both dropped their first matches in women's open doubles play and went on to withdraw from the tournament in the consolation round.

This was the Panthers' lone fall tournament as both teams will return to the courts this spring for their respective dual seasons.

by Katie Bell
Sports Information Intern

Become a fan of Chapman Athletics on Facebook
Follow Chapman Athletics on Twitter @ChapmanSports
Post your #PantherPic to Instagram @ChapmanSports
#Chaptown