MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield women's tennis team continued their dominant stretch of play Friday afternoon with a 9-0 win over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes.
The win improved Linfield to 11-2 on the year and 7-0 in conference play, guaranteeing the Wildcats at least a share of their 16
th Northwest Conference championship.
It was their second consecutive 9-0 shutout win and sixth this season. Linfield also improved to 5-0 at home.
The Lutes fell to 3-12 and 1-6 in the NWC.
DOUBLES
Linfield immediately set the tone for the match by owning the action through all three doubles flights.
Linfield's No. 1 pairing of
Tessa Kern and
Taryn Fujimori, playing together for just the first time this season, handled Pacific Lutheran's Taylor Stokes and Ella Burriss 8-1 to win the day's top doubles flight.
In the No. 2 flight
Maggie Fiocchi and
Allena Wong improved to 2-1 as a team, blanking Jillian Chong and Meggie Burnett 8-0.
Sarah Forester and
Emma Tuttle stayed unbeaten at 3-0 as a duo as they also cruised to victory, winning 8-1 over Tiana Jeffries and Lillian Nguyen to set the score after doubles play at 3-0, Linfield.
SINGLES
Linfield kept things rolling right into singles play with Fujimori taking the No. 1 flight with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Stokes. Fujimori is now 7-1 in singles flights against conference opponents this season and 6-1 when playing as Linfield's No. 1 seed.
In her first career opportunity playing in a No. 2 flight, Forester was unfazed by the moment as she handled Burriss with ease, 6-1, 6-0, to improve to 10-2 on the year and an unblemished, team-best 8-0 against conference opponents.
Forester's win over Burriss clinched the win for Linfield at 5-0.
Wong took the No. 3 flight over Chong 6-0, 6-1 to also stay perfect against NWC rivals at 7-0 and improve to 8-4 in singles play.
The No. 4 flight saw Fiocchi blank Burnett for the second time Friday, winning 6-0, 6-0, for a team-best ninth straight singles win. Her 10-2 mark on the year in singles is tied with Forester for the most wins on the year.
Linfield's two freshmen rounded out the sweep for the Wildcats, first with Tuttle taking the No. 5 flight 6-2, 6-1 over Nguyen.
Alexis Garner completed the 9-0 win with a strong 6-0, 6-1 win over Libertad Sarmiento.
Both Tuttle and Garner have begun their careers unbeaten in singles action, Tuttle at 8-0 and Garner at 3-0.
NEXT
The Wildcats wrap up the regular season Saturday against Puget Sound (4-5, 2-4) on Senior Day, with the match start time set for 12:00. Linfield can outright clinch the conference championship with a win, which would them the right to host the Northwest Conference tournament on April 23 and 24.
