CLAREMONT, Calif. — The University of La Verne tennis team topped Caltech, 6-3, to finish fifth place at the 2016 SCIAC Women's Tennis Championships on Sunday at the Pauley Tennis Complex.
La Verne finishes the season 7-14 overall and 4-5 in the SCIAC.
The Leopards got out to a 2-1 lead after doubles and took four of six singles matches to claim the win.
Shenelle Trujillo dropped her first set against Sophia Chen at No. 4 singles, but bounced back to take the last two sets for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 win and the clincher.
Bridget Etchegaray and Janae Chinn beat Sophia Chen and Vinci Chen, 8-2, in No. 1 doubles to get the Leopards started and Savanah Goode and Trujillo followed with an 8-4 win over Erin Wang and Kana Moriyama to give the Leopards a 2-0 lead.
The Leopards lost No. 3 doubles but Etchegaray got the Leopards right back on track with a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles over Vinci Chen.
Areli Martinez beat Cecelia Andrews, 6-2, 6-1, before Trujillo's clincher and Chinn closed out the match with a marathon 6-3, 2-6, 15-13 win over Moriyama at No. 3.
The Leopards, who went through growing pains after graduating arguably the three best players in program history the last two years, will look to bounce back in 2017 as they bring back their top three singles players.