Women's tennis: Trio ends up empty-handed in California

This past week the women’s tennis team sent three players to attempt to qualify for the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships. Junior Melissa and freshman Rachel Saiontz, sisters, journeyed with freshman Lauren McHale to Los Angeles to take on the competition. They did not get very far, however, with all three losing in the qualifying rounds. The men’s team had this weekend off to prepare for its next event.

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, Melissa Saiontz was defeated in the qualifying singles draw by Andrea Remynse of UCLA, 7-6 (4), 6-0. Last Saturday, Monica Dancevic of Georgia beat Rachel Saiontz, 6-2, 6-2, and Caroline Larsson from Texas defeated McHale, 6-1, 6-4, both in the pre-qualifying main singles draw.

In addition, the doubles team of Rachel Saiontz and McHale defeated Sandra Kukla and Nina Jaworowski of Cal State Northridge, 8-4, last Saturday. They would not advance any further, though, losing Sunday to the pair of Tiffany Welcher and Paulina Bigos of Alabama, 8-2. This ended the Tigers’ hopes, as the duo was the last Princeton squad to be eliminated.

This weekend, the women’s team travels to Dartmouth for the ITA Regional Championships, while the men’s team participates in its own ITA All-American event.