McMINNVILLE, Ore. – After taking down Lewis and Clark just a day before the Wildcats squared off with Whitman College on Sunday, April 28
th in the Northwest Conference Championship match. Last time the two teams met up was in the regular season and the Wildcats were able to collect the win in Walla Walla. Linfield was grinded and competed hard on Sunday afternoon and was able to edge the Blues 5-4 and collect their first Northwest Conference Champsionship and NCAA birth since 2011.
The Wildcats started out the match on top as they won two of the three double's points.
Haley Fujimori and
Michelle Ly dominated in at the number three position as they won 8-1 and secured the Wildcats' first point.
Riley Clayeux and
Tessa Kern picked up Linfield's second point with an 8-1 victory as well.
Michelle Uyeda and
Elsa Harris fought hard put fell in the final doubles match 6-8.
Alysse Nakasato gave Linfield a 3-1 lead as she won her singles match 6-1, 6-1 at the number five position. The Wildcats then lost the next three matches at the number one, two, and three positions.
Haley Fujimori fought hard at the number six position and earned a 6-3, 6-4 win for the Wildcats. Fujimori's win tied it up at 4-4 making the number four singles match between
Riley Clayeux and Lori Sheng the deciding factor between a championship or not. Clayeux lost the first set 7-6 but fought back to win the second 6-4 and then after going up 5-2 in the third set Clayeux put it away for Linfield with a 6-4 win and a NWC Championship.
Next
The Wildcats will wait to see where they travel to for the NCAA Regionals.
