Arizona women’s tennis headed to Northridge, Calif., this past weekend at the eighth annual Cal State Northridge Matador Fall Collegiate Invitational. Representing the Wildcats were senior Laura Oldham and junior Inge Hendrikx.
The Wildcats were ranked highest in the tournament overall at No. 33 in the nation. The team competed against Cal State Northridge, No. 70 UC Irvine, Portland, UC Riverside, Cal Poly, Seattle University, Loyola Marymount University, UC San Diego, Montana and Cal State Los Angeles.
Oldham defeated Portland’s Sophie Van Den Aarssen (7-6, 6-3) to clinch the black singles bracket championship. Throughout the tournament, Oldham took four consecutive victories, only losing one set over the weekend. The championship was the Wildcats first singles championship of the fall season.
“I’m really happy with the way I competed and played this weekend,” Oldham said in a press release. “I played sensible, solid tennis and took my chances when I got the opportunity. I would like to thank my coaches for their support throughout the tournament.”
Hendrikx almost gave Arizona a second singles championship, before losing in the final round to UC Irvine’s Andrea Duva 7-5, 2-6, 7-5. In both of her last two tournaments, Hendrikx reached the singles title match.
The UA also played well in doubles, as Oldham and Hendrikx finished in third place in the black doubles bracket. The duo was able to place after defeating Cal State Northridge’s junior Jessica Warren and senior Criss Rodriguez 8-4.
Overall, Oldham goes into the next tournament with a record of 4-1 during this fall season, while Hendrikx is 6-2.
Throughout the fall season, Arizona has been mostly successful, battling through some of the nation’s toughest competition.
Up next for the Wildcats is their final tournament of the fall season, the San Diego State Invitational, which will be held on Nov. 7-9 in San Diego.
Arizona men’s tennis, on the other hand, had the week off to prepare for its next tournament, the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas.
_______________
Follow Matt Wall on Twitter.