The Pomona-Pitzer women’s tennis team came into Friday’s showdown against the CMS Athenas confident and pumped up. Rivalries aside, the Hens and CMS entered the match tied for the SCIAC lead. But CMS is a special opponent too. Defending doubles champions Meghan Gould ’01 and Sharee Schwartz ’02 had never beaten CMS in their Sagehen careers. This year, backed by a talented group of freshman, the Sagehens knew they were the better team. And from the start they showed it, racing out to a 6-1 lead to take all the drama out of the event.

The match started with doubles, Pomona-Pitzer’s strength. At number one doubles, the tandem of Gould and Schwartz won 8-6, reversing last year’s defeat. Kelli Howard ’04 and Whitney Henderson ’04 continued the trend at number two doubles, also winning 8-6. Betsy Mork ’04 and Chelsea Heller ’04 demolished their opponents 8-3. Thus the Sagehens held an almost overwhelming 3-0 lead entering singles play. Dual matches are played best of nine, with three doubles and six singles matches.

The match quickly seemed like it would turn into a rout when Henderson won easily at the fifth spot, 6-1, 6-3. Then Gould and Mork also turned in two-set victories to clinch the match and offset Heller’s defeat. Gould, in the fourth spot, won 6-4,6-1 and in the second spot Mork won 6-4, 6-3. With a 6-1 advantage, the Hens could relax as they watched the last two matches come to completion. CMS won both to make the score a respectable 6-3.

Mork’s victory was particularily impressive as she beat Becca Dutton CMS ’03, a 2000 Nationals qualifier. In the first meet of the year at Cal Poly Pomona, Dutton defeated Mork. It was Mork’s first collegiate tournament. Since then, Mork said, "I have improved a lot. I am more match tough." This year the Sagehens clearly enjoyed playing CMS. Even the loses were close.

Playing against defending SCIAC player of the year, Blair Rubenstein CMS ’01, Schwartz won the first set 6-2, before dropping the next two, 3-6 and 4-6. Howard smoke her opponent in the first set 6-1, but suffered a dramatic reversal and lost the next two sets 0-6 and 2-6. At the sixth spot Heller forced a tiebreaker before losing 2-6, 5-7.

Momentum going into the match was clearly important and in Pomona-Pitzer’s favor. The Sagehens won all three doubles sets and five of the first singles sets. "Everybody was excited before the match. We were confident from the very beginning," Gould explained.

Leadership was also important. "The senior had gotten us so revved up for CMS," said Mork.

The Sagehens’stellar play continued through the weekend when UC Santa Cruz slid into town. The Banana Slugs were no match for the powerful Pomona-Pitzer squad. The Hens swept the doubles and singles for a 9-0 victory. None of the matches went three sets and the Banana Slugs only managed to force a tiebreaker in one doubles match.

The victories last weekend increased the Hens record to 10-4 overall and 6-0 in SCIAC. More work awaits before the Pomona-Pitzer women’s tennis team reaches their goal of qualifying for NCAA Division III Nationals. Trouncing CMS was an important step in that direction. "This [CMS match] gives up a lot of confidence in the region. It convinced us that we have a shot at qualifying for Nationals," Gould said.