LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Over the course of three days, tennis players from along the west coast flooded to the Biola Tennis Center for the United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional championship.
 
Winners of the four draws, men and women's singles and men and women's doubles, would earn a berth to next month's USTA/ITA Small College Championships.
 
Biola had five men competing in the open, as singles and two doubles teams, and the women's squad also sent five competitors onto the court, four as singles with the fifth joining one of the doubles squads.
 
Kathryn Ashford was the woman to watch from BU's squad as she was announced as the top seed in the women's singles draw. Last season, Ashford spent her entire freshman year competing in the first singles spot for the Eagles, compiling an overall record of 10-11 and earning All-GSAC distinction.
 
"Kat had some tough matches to play, but she handled being the number one seed very well," said Head Women's Coach Dee Henry. "She has very nice strokes and is maturing each time she is on the courts."
 
Ashford won her first match in straight sets (6-1, 6-0) defeating a GSAC foe, Maria Rivera from Westmont. She continued on to face Grace Davis, also from Westmont, in her next draw, coming from behind after losing the first set 2-6, to defeat Davis 2-1. Another straight set victory (6-3, 6-1) over an opponent from Lewis-Clark State had Ashford in the finals facing Rye Hewitt Steiger, also from LCSC.
 
Entering the final matchup with Ashford, Steiger, the No. 28 seed, had not dropped a set in her previous two matches. She did not drop one against Ashford either, and walked away with the championship after defeating Ashford 6-0 and 6-1.
 
No other member of the women's squad was able to win a match, losing to opponents from LCSC, Arizona Christian and Concordia. In the women's doubles contest Madeline Heer and Olivia Koelsch teamed up to pick up a first round 8-1 win over a team from ACU, but fell in round two to Steiger and her partner Florencia Martina.
 
Gregory Cobian entered play as the top seed for the Eagles in the men's singles draw as the third seed. He was able to down Cody Walker from Hope International in straight sets (6-2, 6-2), but then had the unfortunate matchup with the top seed and eventual tournament runner-up Time Goranson from Westmont. Goranson ended the run of Cobian in a straight set (6-1, 6-0) second round victory.
 
Lucas Lee was able to pick up a first round victory from BU in the 21-22 matchup. He took the match in straight sets (7-5, 6-1) from Tyler Cawthorne of ACU. He then dropped his second round matchup with another opponent from WC.
Lee teamed up with Tayven Townsend in the doubles draw and the duo was able to pick up an 8-1 win in the first round before advancing to a second round meeting with a top-seeded duo from Westmont.
 
Lee and Townsend played their opponents hard and came out on top with a 9-8 win over the top-seeded team. They were dethroned in round three by the eventual runner-up duo from ACU.
 
Between all of the intense intercollegiate action the tournament director, Henry, invited kids onto the Biola Tennis Courts to get some instruction and work in with the collegiate players and coaches.