CLAREMONT, Calif. -
Bell Zhou and
Rebecca Kong earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Maegan Deng and Lindsey Whalen of Redlands to take the ITA West Regionals doubles championship on Sunday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
Zhou and Kong secure All-America honors for the 2026-27 season with their regional championship, and will next move on to the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia in 10 days. Kong will also compete in singles after reaching the ITA West singles finals and finishing as the runner-up.
Kong reached the finals of the ITA Cup in singles a year ago, while capturing the doubles championship with the since-graduated
Lindsay Eisenman. The duo went on to win the NCAA Doubles Championship in the spring. Zhou, meanwhile, secured the first All-America honor of her career with the doubles title.
Zhou and Kong were never challenged along the way to their doubles championship, winning their first four rounds 8-1, 8-2, 8-0 and 8-2 before the 6-3, 6-3 win in the championship, which was secured on Zhou's service winner up 40-15 in the third.
Kong won her first two singles matches 6-0, 6-0 on Friday, and then was pushed in the quarterfinals by Mireille Chedid-Daley of Pomona-Pitzer, prevailing 7-5, 2-6, 10-2. She faced teammate
Leah Baroudi in the semifinals, and then fell to Sophie Lau of Pomona-Pitzer in the championship. Lau also beat
Ananya Sriniketh in the quarterfinals, while Zhou had a tight 7-5, 6-3 loss to Maegan Dang, while Baroudi defeated
Rachel Garton.
The three CMS first-years had auspicious starts to their careers as well.
Anika Malik played Deng, the No. 3 seed in the regionals, and responded to a slow start to nearly pull the upset before Deng won 6-0, 3-6, 10-8, and then went on to win the consolation bracket, taking a 6-3, 7-5 win over Aspen Young of Colorado College on Sunday.
Alexandra Dewey, meanwhile, had a 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 win in her first match, before falling to her own teammate (Baroudi) in the round of 16.
Emily Gao had a 6-1, 6-3 win in the first round before falling to Lau in the second round.
The ITA Cup will get underway on Oct. 15, with 16 entrants in both the singles and doubles competition.
