Pirates outlast Bakersfield in SoCal Regional opener
COSTA MESA -- In a battle that came down to the final match, the Orange Coast College women's tennis team pulled out a 5-4 win over visiting Bakersfield College on Tuesday in the opening round of the Southern California Regional team playoffs.
With the win, the Pirates (16-2), seeded No. 2 in Southern California, will host No. 3 Glendale in the regional semifinals on Tuesday, beginning at 2 p.m. The Pirates and Vaqueros (16-2) did not play each other this year.
Doubles play kicked off Tuesday's contest and the Pirates picked up a win at No. 1 from the team of Clarisa Colling and Karen Trinh. The top-ranked team in Southern California had little trouble against the BC team of Paige Darstein and Kaylee Defrees, winning, 8-2.
But the Renegades (18-5) took care of business in the other two doubles matches and carried a 2-1 lead into singles play.
Colling (6-2, 6-0), Trinh (6-2, 6-0) and JoAnn Taylor (6-0, 6-0) picked up straight-set wins for Coast, and with one match to go, both teams had four wins apiece.
Finally, in the final match of the afternoon, at No. 3 singles, Cecilia Arzaga took care of business and defeated Defrees, 6-4, 6-2, to carry the Pirates into the semifinals.
The winner of Tuesday's matchup will face the winner between No. 1 Irvine Valley and No. 4 Santa Monica on Saturday, April 22.
