CLAREMONT, Calif. -- A sweep of the doubles matches, including two without yielding a game, helped the 18th-ranked Lewis & Clark Pioneers to a 5-0 victory over UC-Santa Cruz in the opening round of the NCAA Championship on Friday at Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The Pioneers move on to Saturday's second round and will play No. 3 Pomona-Pitzer at 2 p.m. Lewis & Clark lost to the Sagehens, 9-0, last March.
Seniors Aurora Garrison and Claudia Lew were the first Pios singles competitors to end their matches, as postseason duals end once a fifth team point is secured. Garrison won the No. 2 match against Islay Fossett, 6-0, 6-1, while Lew defeated Amy Leslie, 6-0, 6-0, in the fifth position.
None of the Pioneers trailed in singles after the first set with Kacey Incerpi taking a 6-1 win in the opening set against Eva Buciek at No. 6. Seventh-ranked Summer Garrison, who will play at the NCAA Singles Championship later this month, Wiktoria Plawska and Christine Eliazo were all 6-3 first set winners before the match ended.
"Today solidified the fact that our team deserved to make nationals," said Aurora Garrison, who is a team captain. "Being there with all the NCAA signs - and free snacks - was great."
Eliazo and Lew combined for an 8-0 win in No. 1 doubles, beating Sylvia Brummitt and Stephanie Graziano. In the second position, Plawska and Incerpi combined for an 8-3 win over Ashley Brudzinski and Fossett. Garrison and Garrison defeated Melanie Waechtler and Leslie, 8-0, in the third match-up.
If the Pios move past Pomona-Pitzer, they would play on Sunday at 2 p.m. against either Claremont Mudd-Scripps or Trinity to qualify for the final site of the NCAA Championship on May 23-28 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
"We'll be way more rested than last time and they'll have a different line-up, so our chances look better," said Aurora Garrison of the match-up with Pomona-Pitzer. Lewis & Clark played at Pomona-Pitzer on Mar. 26 in the final of four road matches over spring break.
The Sagehens have three of the top 40 players in the national rankings, including No. 6 Joy Kim, who defeated Aurora Garrison, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 2 match-up of the March meeting. Caroline Casper beat Summer Garrison in the top match, Garrison's only loss this season. Two of the three doubles matches saw the Pios win six or more games before Pomona-Pitzer won all of them.
