Chen and Chin Win ITA Regional Doubles Title

(FREDERICKSBURG, Va.) – Seniors Laura Chen (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) and Courtney Chin (Cupertino, Calif./Monta Vista) won the 2011 ITA Southeast Regional Doubles Championship on Monday, September 26, after three days of competition. It is the first regional doubles victory for the pair but second doubles win for Chen who paired with a different teammate in 2009.

The seniors, seeded number one for the tournament, started with a win over Lindsey Burke and Ann Morris of Washington and Lee University, 8-1. They went on to defeat Victoria Foanio and Alyssa Sell of Albright College 8-0 and Courtney Boger and Kaitlin Pfisterer of Johns Hopkins University 8-3 to reach the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Chen and Chin defeated teammates Clare DuBrin (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsford Southerland) and Cze-Ja Tam (Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) 8-3. DuBrin and Tam reached the semifinals with wins over Katy Bergey and Katie Gordon of Bridgewater College 8-2, Elaine Baik and Abby Clark of Johns Hopkins 8-2 and Sallie Griffin and Allison Hupalo of Washington & Lee 8-4.

Chen and Chin defeated fifth seeded Shannon Herndon and Hailey Hogan of Johns Hopkins 6-3, 6-3 for the title and will move on to the ITA National Championship in Mobile, Alabama, on Thursday, October 13 through Sunday, October 16.

In other Tartan action, sophomore Sonya Subramaniam (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) reached the finals of the blue 1 singles with an opening round win of 8-5 over Kim Morrissett of Christopher Newport University. She went on to defeat Katy Bergey of Bridgewater 7-5, 6-2 and Sharon Resnikoff of Muhlenberg College 6-4, 6-2. She fell in the finals 6-3, 6-2 to Lauren Fields of Johns Hopkins.

Subramaniam did win a title during the tournament as she paired with freshman Jana Motie (Melbourne, Fla./West Shore) to take the blue 1 doubles championship. In the first round, the pair defeated Gayatri Iyengar and Brooke Wilkins of Swarthmore College 8-5. They then reached the finals with wins over Marion Gloor and Sarah Stafford of Christopher Newport 8-5 and Jessica Babyak and Rachel Lupinetti of Salisbury University 8-0. In the final, Subramaniam and Motie topped Andrea Burlinghof and Carolyn Drogt of Johns Hopkins 8-3.

Moving back to championship doubles action, freshman Chelsea Motie (Melbourne, Fla./West Shore) and freshman Bryn Raschke (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines) won the consolation finals after falling 8-6 to Lauren Lukas and Trelsie Sadler of Washington & Lee in the first round. After falling to the second-seeded team of Lukas and Sadler, Motie and Raschke earned a 8-4 win over Elaina Iosue and Jillian Poppe of Salisbury. After a bye, the pair defeated Kaitlyn Coleman and Shannon Libaw of Johns Hopkins 8-2 and Moriah Burke and Ariel Taylor of Sweet Briar College 8-3 to reach the finals. In the finals, the newly messed pair took down Amanda Bercovici and Jordan Finnegan of Washington College 8-5.

In championship singles action, Chin reached the semifinals for the fourth time in her career only to come up one match short of making the final. The senior was defeated in the semifinals by Hogan 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Chin's road to the semifinals started with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Chelsea Ott of Moravian College. The second-seeded player then defeated Priscilla Montoya of Hollins University 6-2, 6-0 and freshman teammate Angela Pratt (Saratoga, Calif./St. Francis) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Her final singles win of the day came against Herndon in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-4.

Chen and Chelsea Motie also had a good singles tournament as Motie defeated Chen in the round of 16 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).