The Pomona-Pitzer women’s tennis team looked to defeat CMS in the SCIAC tournament and retain sole possession of first place last weekend. On the first day of the tournament the Hens swept La Verne and Whittier. However, without injured star Sharee Schwartz ’02 the Hens fell 5-4 to the Athenas. Because Pomona-Pitzer won the regular season meeting the Sagehens and Athenas will share the SCIAC crown.

Schwartz’s injury forced each Pomona-Pitzer player to play one singles position higher than they were accustomed to, with Katie Siedel ’01 entering into the sixth singles spot to fill out the squad. The doubles teams also moved up one place and Meghan Gould ’01 teamed up at third doubles.

Still, the final started well for the Sagehens. First doubles tandem Kelli Howard ’04 and Whitney Henderson ’04 won their match 8-6. The Gould-Siedel team whipped CMS 8-2. Unfortunately, partners Betsy Mork ’04 and Chelsea Heller ’04 fell at second doubles 8-6. The Hens were up 2-1 entering singles play, only one point off the pace they set at the first P-P vs CMS match.

The momentum quickly shifted to the Athenas. Only one Pomona-Pitzer player won the first set in their match.

Gould, an All-SCIAC First Team selection, won a tight two set match at third singles 7-5, 6-4. That completed a personal sweep of CMS.

But CMS countered with victories at first, second, and fifth singles to take a 4-3 lead with two matches to play. Could the women’s tennis team match their male counterparts and race back to win the tournament? Their hopes lay on Henderson at fourth singles and Siedel at sixth singles.

Henderson had dropped the first set 4-6 before storming back to win the second set 6-2. Henderson dominated in the deciding set to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Her victory kept the Hens’ hopes alive and tied the score at 4-4.

That put the weight of the match on seldom-used Siedel. Any momentum gained from her doubles win was quickly swept away in a 1-6 first set loss. Siedel did not quit however and struggled to win on a tiebreaker in the second set. Unfortunately, her magic did not last and Siedel lost the deciding set 2-6.

In the earlier matches, Mork lost 1-6, 4-6 at first singles. Howard dropped both sets 4-6, 3-6 at second singles. Heller lost at fifth singles 2-6, 3-6.

The good news for Pomona-Pitzer is that they will probably have another chance to knock off CMS. The next time will be at Regionals in two weeks. With the SCIAC MVP Schwartz, All-SCIAC First Team selection Gould, and All-SCIAC Second Team selections Mork, Howard, and Henderson the Sagehens still have a great chance to reach their goal of qualifying for the Division III National tournament.

The Sagehens will be competing next weekend at the Ojai tournament.