Horned Frogs Finish Strong at Battle in the Bay Classic

Thursday, September 12

San Francisco, Calif.

TCU

Battle in the Bay

Horned Frogs Finish Strong at Battle in the Bay Classic

9/16/2024 7:46:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Pascual and Otway made their way to the doubles finals and the team finished 11-7 on the weekend.

FORT WORTH – The Horned Frogs wrapped up their weekend in San Francisco, finishing 11-7 as a team against some of the top talent in the country at the Battle in the Bay Classic.

"Battle in the Bay is one the best tournaments in the country and is always a premier event kicking off the fall season," said head coach Lee Taylor Walker. "The staff and fans at California Tennis Club are first class in every way and go above and beyond at making the tournament a great experience for our players. A big thank you to them for the incredible hospitality."

TCU finished with wins against Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Stanford, and USC.

"Like in the past, this year's draw featured top tier programs- including four teams that finished in the top eight last year," said Walker. "We came into the tournament with clear expectations to compete for titles. Our ladies did an excellent job of competing and beating some of the nation's best. I can't overstate how proud I am of our team."

The 12^th-ranked doubles pair in the country, Isabel Pascual and Jade Otway, pushed their way through to the finals after several hard-fought sets. They started with a dominant 8-4 win over Taylor Goetz and Vivian Yang (Pepperdine). The duo then beat their first ranked opponent of the season in No. 43 Gracie Epps and Marcela Lopez (Oklahoma State). Pascual and Otway advanced to the semifinals where they defeated Sofia Rojas and Anastasiia Lopata (Georgia) with an 8-6 score. However, their run came to an end after falling to the No. 1 ranked pair in the country, Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar (Oklahoma State).

Raquel Chica Caballero had a big win from behind, beating a ranked opponent for the first time in her career in No. 77 Valencia Xu (Stanford). Caballero lost set one 0-6 but battles back to win the second set 6-1. The third set went into a thrilling tiebreaker and Caballero was able to come out on top in seven match points.

No. 47-ranked Tomi Main and Yu-Chin Tsai played for the first time as a pair, winning the doubles consolation championship. Main ended the weekend with a combined 5-1 record and Tsai was 4-2 in the tournament. Otway combined for a 4-2 record this weekend as well.

"This was somewhat of a breakthrough weekend for our program and I think we have a new level of belief, and a new hunger to continue to improve and get better so that we can be the elite program we know we are capable of," said Walker. "I am very proud of the team and look forward to building on this for next week's ITA All-American Tournament and the HEB Invitational."

UP NEXT
The Frogs will travel two to the Baylor HEB Invitational on Sept. 20-22 in Waco, Texas. The remaining four players will travel to the annual ITA All-American National Championships, marking the first of four NCAA Championship qualifying tournaments. ITA All-Americans takes place on Sept. 21-29 in Cary, N.C.