After traveling roughly two hours to face the Westmont College Warriors on April 1, the Biola tennis teams emerged with mixed results. The men finished with another heartbreaking 5-4 loss while the women picked up the 5-4 win, their first win over Westmont since 2004.

First win over Westmont since 2004

“It felt great to finally get a win over Westmont,” said senior Kelsey Post. “Each one of us were so excited to have this win. It was a close call, but when we finally clinched the win, there was such a great feeling in the air.”

The men started out the day by getting in a hole early, winning just two of the six singles matches. Freshman Derek James earned the toughest win on the No. 3 court, winning his match 6-3, 7-6 with a 7-5 tiebreaker. Senior Luke Mountain fell just short on the No. 4 court by a score of 6-4, 7-6 after a 7-1 tiebreaker.

The men won the first doubles match, but lost the second, giving Westmont the five match wins necessary to take the overall win. The final doubles match went to Biola as the Westmont players conceded, since they had already secured the victory.

On the women’s side, they came in looking for revenge after a tight 5-4 loss to Westmont earlier in the season. They opened up play with victories in two of the three doubles matches, giving them the leg up in the match.

Biola took wins on each of the three lower courts to give them the match win. Sophomore Katie Boesl earned the 6-2, 6-3 win on court six, while Post won 7-6 in the first set with a 7-5 tiebreaker and a 6-2 second set. Freshman Tinisee Kandakai grabbed the victory in her match by a score of 6-3, 7-5 to round out the fantastic Biola performance.

The men drop to 2-5 in Golden State Athletic Conference play, with just three regular season matches left, only one of which is conference. The women improve to 3-4 in conference with only a pair of matches remaining. Both teams return to Biola Tennis Center on April 6 for non-conference matchups against Azusa Pacific University, with the men starting at 2 p.m. and the women at 3:30 p.m.