Linfield University Athletics

BOISE, Idaho – Starting off the season against two Division I opponents, the Linfield Wildcats fell 7-0 and 6-1 to the Montana State Bobcats and the Boise State Broncos respectively at the Boas Indoor Tennis Center on Saturday. Allena Wong secured the lone win for the Wildcats.
Linfield starts the season 0-2, while Montana State is now 2-7 overall and Boise State is 2-5.

MATCH 1: Montana State 7, Linfield 0
DOUBLES
Playing with Division I rules, the two teams played one regular set in the doubles round, with the team that wins two of the three matches getting the doubles point.
Tessa Kern and freshman Lexie Matsunaga paired up as the No. 1 doubles team and fell 6-1 to the Montana State duo Linnea Fristam and Laura Mary. Riley Clayeux and Michelle Uyeda forced the tiebreaker against Caitlin Ward and Daphne Haverkamp in the second doubles match, the Bobcats won the tiebreaker, 7-4 to clinch the doubles point.
Haley Fujimori and Maggie Fiocchi fell 6-0 to JJ Chen and Mirte Van Baelen in the third doubles match.

SINGLES
Ranked No. 37 nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Uyeda faced Mary in the top singles match and fell 6-3, 6-2. No. 35, Kern fell 6-2, 6-0 to Fristam. Van Baelen took the third singles match, 6-1, 6-1 over Clayuex. While Fiocchi dropped a 6-0, 6-2 match to Chen.
Freshmen Matsunaga and Wong were impressive in their collegiate debuts. Wong fell to 6-4, 6-0 to Haverkamp, while Matsunaga had the closest singles match, losing 6-4, 6-2 to Ward.
This was the first meeting ever between the Bobcats and the Wildcats.

MATCH 2: Boise State 6, Linfield 1
DOUBLES
Linfield stuck with the same doubles lineup for the second match of the day. Kern and Matsunaga fell 6-1 to Lilian Poling and Holly Stewart, Fujimori and Fiocchi fell 6-1 as well. Clayeux and Uyeda were trailing 4-3, but with Boise State winning the first two doubles matches, the Broncos had secured the doubles point and the final match remained unfinished.
 
SINGLES
This was day of the dual match tennis in her college career for Wong and she delivered a 6-2, 6-2 win for the 'Cats over the Broncos' Mae McCutcheon.
 
Uyeda lost 6-0, 6-2 to Poling, Kern fell 6-1, 6-1 to Stewart, Clayuex dropped a 6-1, 6-4 match to Vanessa Timm. Matsunaga fell 6-2, 6-0 to Ana Conde Vendrell. Fujimori forced a tiebreaker against Jovana Kuljanin, but lost 6-0, 7-6 (8-6).
 
UP NEXT
Linfield concludes the trip to Idaho with a match against the College of Idaho on Sunday morning at 10 a.m.