Pirates blank Santa Barbara to advance to SoCal Regional finals
COSTA MESA -- The machine keeps rolling strong as the Orange Coast College women's tennis team defeated Santa Barbara City College, 5-0, on Tuesday at the Southern California Regional semifinals, played at the OCC Tennis Complex.
It was smooth sailing for the top-seeded Pirates (20-0) as doubles started strong with victories coming from the teams of Miri Inoue/Nicole Knickerbocker (8-1), Shayee Sherif/Camryn Mason (8-0) and Shannon Stone/Jackie Kaiser (8-1).
With those three victories, Coast needed just two more wins in singles and those were earned at No. 1 by Inoue (6-0, 6-0) and at No. 3 by Knickerbocker (6-1, 6-2). With the loss, SBCC ends its season with a record of 17-4.
After stumbling in the semis last year (a 5-4 loss to Glendale), the Pirates have made a return to the Regional Finals, where they will host fellow Orange Empire Conference rival, Riverisde City College, on Saturday, beginning at 12 p.m. The Pirates posted a pair of 7-2 wins over the Tigers (17-2) in OEC action earlier this season (RCC's only two losses this year). Riverside advanced to Saturday's finals with a 5-0 victory over Irvine Valley on Tuesday.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONALS (Semifinals)
Doubles
1. Inoue/Knickerbocker, OCC, def. Buyse/Buyse 8-1
2. Sherif/Mason, OCC, def. Nicolaides/Dafos 8-0
3. Stone/Kaiser, OCC, def. Mitchell/Jakobsen 8-1
Singles
1. Miri Inoue, OCC, def. Jamaica Buyse 6-0, 6-0
2. Shayee Sherff, OCC, led Joica Buyse 6-0, 5-0, unfinished
3. Nicole Knickerbocker, OCC, def. Anya Nicolaides 6-1, 6-2
4. Victoria Dafos, SBCC, led Camryn Mason 6-4, unfinished
5. Claire Bottcher, OCC, led Maddie Mitchell 6-1, 1-0, unfinished
6. Shannon Stone, OCC, led Julia Jakobsen 6-1, 1-1, unfinished
