Results
Ojai, CA -- Sixty-four women, including three Academy of Art representatives, entered the 112th Annual Ojai Valley Tournament, and at the end of the first day, with the field narrowed down to sixteen, there were two Urban Knights left standing.
Amal Ben El Hadj and
Kunkanda "Cartoon" Phukchampa won both of their matches to earn two spots in the round of sixteen, which will kick off tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM. Freshman
Jenny Johansson lost her first-round singles match, but paired up with Phukchampa to earn a spot in doubles round of sixteen.
"All three girls played well considering we played the conference tournament and another match right after," said head coach Jerry Peach. "We had rain this morning, but the afternoon was beautiful and we got out there and played well."
The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament hosts schools from all over the country, and both singles and doubles start at 64 teams. Ben El Hadj took the day from Adrienne Hamada of Whitter College 6-2, 6-4 in the first round, and then defeated Jasmin Zaragoza of Hope University 6-1, 6-0 in the second round. Phukchampa defeated Maddie Morton (Redlands University) 6-2, 6-1 in the opener, and then took down Caroline Brigham of Linfield College in the second round 6-0, 6-2.
Johansson dominated Alyssa Pritchett of Hope University 6-1, 6-0, but then fell in the second round to familiar foe Katie Eng of Cal State Stanislaus 6-3, 6-1, eliminating the freshman from singles competition. In doubles play, the Knights were still very much alive, as Phukchampa and Johansson received a first round bye and then rolled over Carly Mouzes and Lauren Toohey from Cal Lutheran in a 6-2, 6-2 battle.
"Friday's matches get considerably tougher," said Peach. "The draw opens up to better players, and the challenges will be harder to overcome."
Ben El Hadj has a tough draw in an opponent that the Knights have seen twice already this year in Verena Preikschas, who earned a first-round bye and defeated her opponent in the second round. Phukchampa is also facing one of the top seeds in Bettina Radke, who earned a first-round bye as well before a drawn-out battle with CSU Los Angeles's Leora Hemmerich, as the two battled three sets to a 6-4, 5-7, 10-6 win for Radke.
Johansson and Phukchampa will face off against Jamie Solomon and Kara Wang of Pomona-Pitzer, who have already won two matches against Point Loma Nazarene and La Verne to earn a match against the Urban Knights top doubles team.
