The No. 24 University of Redlands women's tennis team captured third place at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship Tournament on Saturday after recording a 7-2 decision against Cal Lutheran University. In addition, it was announced in a short awards ceremony that senior Rachael Miller (Newport Beach, CA) became just the second Bulldog women's tennis player to garner First-Team All-SCIAC honors four times in her tenure. Freshman Jessica Ly (Torrance, CA) also landed on the First Team, while senior Sara Yoshinaga (Honolulu, HI) nabbed her third Second-Team accolade.
During Saturday's third-place match, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles. Ly and sophomore Julia Galbraith (Tacoma, WA) took down their No. 2 opponents with an 8-1 dismantling and Miller and Yoshinaga tamed their No. 1 counterparts with an 8-4 victory.
In singles, momentum stayed on Redlands' side as it rolled to two-set wins in five matches. Ly dropped only one game in her triumph, while freshman Paige Press (La Jolla, CA) cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 5. Miller, Yoshinaga and Galbraith also recorded points for the Maroon and Gray.
The Bulldogs made their way to the third-place showdown by earning a 5-1 victory in the opening round against Occidental College before falling to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges during Friday's semifinal.
Against Occidental, the Maroon and Gray garnered a 2-1 advantage through the doubles matches with the No. 1 and No. 2 duos taking down their respective opponents. Ly and Galbraith also recorded singles wins, with Galbraith giving up just one game in two sets.
During the semifinal, Redlands' only point came at the hands of Ly, who grinded out a 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 victory at the No. 2 spot.
With the completion of the regular season, the Bulldogs (12-8, 7-3 SCIAC) look forward to competing in the 111th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on April 28-May 1.
