LA MIRADA, Calif. – Lewis-Clark State College tennis player Dorothy Chong clinched a spot in the semifinals with two wins at the ITA West Regionals on Friday. Chong also partnered with Livia Blasque to advance to the finals in doubles.
Chong, a senior from Kuching, Malaysia, opened the day with a 6-1, 6-3 singles win over Biola University’s Kathyryn Ashford. She followed this by defeating Westmont College’s Fernanda River 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
In the semifinals on Saturday, Chong will face Westmont’s Grace Davis at 8:30 a.m.
LCSC’s Blasque and Deanri Human also played singles matches on Friday.
Blasque topped Westmont’s Jessica Cedilla 6-2, 6-3 before being defeated by Concordia University’s Elizaveta Ignatova 6-0, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
“Livia showed much tenacity in handling the adversity of a first set shutout,” said LCSC head coach Kai Fong. “She fought point for point, game for game until the very end.”
Human fell to Westmont’s Nikki Yvanovish, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.
“She had a gallant effort for a freshman against a more experienced and skilled played.”
In doubles, Chong and Blasque defeated Jeannette Rodriguez and Jasmin Zaragoza of Hope International University by a score of 8-1 to get past the quarterfinal round. The Warrior combo then conquered Jessica Cedillo and Grace Davis of Westmont 8-3 in the semis.
Chong and Blasque will face Westmont’s Nicci Yvanovich and Tara Yekrang in the finals on Saturday afternoon.
Bryn Oliveira and Human fell to Kristian Lampe and Caitlin Uzzi of Concordia 9-8 (8-6) in the quarterfinal round of doubles play.
The winners of the singles and doubles tournaments will receive a berth to the ITA Small College National championships in Mobile, Ala. on Oct. 14-17.
"Our players are taking away with them many valuable lessons and experiences,” Fong said. “The learning is never going to stop no matter how good and how many matches they play. Plus we are getting a preview of the competition we will face in April of 2012 during our California Spring Break trip"
Complete brackets can be found at Biola’s tournament website.
