Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

PASADENA, Calif. – The Whittier women's tennis team capped its 2011 SCIAC Championships with an empathic 8-1 win over Occidental on Saturday morning at Caltech.

The Poets took a 2-1 lead into singles where the purple and gold dominated, winning all six matches.

Maryrose Vigorita and Liliana Serylo had the two longest matches of the morning as they both needed three sets to secure the wins. At the fifth spot, Vigorita won the first set, 6-2, before falling by the same score in the second set. Despite the attempted rally from Occidental's Rachel Washtien, Vigorita secured the win with a 6-2 third set.

Serylo dug herself into a 1-0 hole after dropping the first set, 6-4, but responded with a 6-4 win of her own to force the third and deciding set at the top position. She rode the momentum of her second set win to a 6-3 win to take the match.

Chloe Dredge rolled to her eighth straight victory, improving her individual record to 11-4, with a 6-3, 7-5, win at No. 3 singles.

Adrienne Hamada and Kady Oliker continued the trend of strong play with a 6-4, 7-5 and 6-1, 6-2 win at the No. 2 and No. 4 positions, each, respectively.

Brianna Campanero was on her way to a straight set victory before her opponent was forced to retire from the match. Campanero won the first set 7-5 and was up 5-2 in the second when her match ended.

Dredge and Oliker pushed their season record to 10-6 at No. 2 doubles while Lauren Gelgur and Vigorita won 8-4 at the third spot.

The win is the second in a row for the Poets and second of the season over Occidental. Whittier ended the season having won seven of its final nine matches after starting the season 1-6.

Next on the docket for the Poets is the Annual Ojai Tennis Championships.