The No. 28 University of Redlands women's tennis team jumped back into the win column on Wednesday with a 5-4 win over the visiting Carleton College (MN) Knights on Verdieck Courts. After snagging a 2-1 lead through strong doubles action, the Bulldogs secured the victory by prevailing in three of the first four singles matches off the court.
In doubles, the No. 3 tandem of sophomore Kate Dolan (St. Louis, MO) and junior Claire Bohoskey (Yakima, WA) came out firing en route to an 8-1 win. Redlands gained another point from the top duo of freshman Sarah Ikioka (Wailuku, HI) and sophomore Elizabeth Johnson (Portland, OR), who came away with an 8-5 showing.
Although Carleton answered at the No. 2 slot, the Bulldogs held a slight 2-1 lead to start the singles.
Ikioka continued to roll with an impressive 6-0, 6-2 performance at No. 1 before sophomore Madison Ross (San Diego, CA) made it 4-1 for the Bulldogs by registering a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 6.
As three of the four remaining matches went three sets, the Maroon and Gray needed just one more to seal the deal on this non-conference result. Although Carleton cut the lead with a win at No. 3, freshman Jackie Lacy (Pam Desert, CA) got the job done at No. 4, as she downed her counterpart by scores of 6-4, 7-6(4).
Even though the Knights won the three other matches, the Bulldogs had this one in the books well before those results were final.
Redlands (2-8) heads to Whittier College on Friday, March 24, for a 3 p.m. Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match against the Poets.
