Box Score MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Rolling its excellent play from the regular season into the playoffs, the Linfield women's tennis team swept the George Fox Bruins 9-0 on Saturday in the semi-final of the Northwest Conference Women's Tennis Championships.

The Wildcats (13-2, 8-0) have now won 12 straight matches on the year. They are now 44-0 all-time against their cross-county rival Bruins.

George Fox ends the season 13-8. During the regular season they collected a 5-3 record against the NWC.

The Wildcats will advance to the NWC Championship final tomorrow, where they will host the third-seeded Whitworth Pirates, who beat the Whitman Blues 5-3 in the semi-final.

Should Linfield win tomorrow, it will be their second consecutive NWC Tournament Championship.

DOUBLES
Linfield set the tone early in doubles action as the top Wildcat pairing of Tessa Kern and Lexie Matsunaga dismantled George Fox's No. 1 duo of Danielle Brown and Olivia Morris, 8-2. The win improved Kern and Matsunaga to 8-2 as a team on the year.

The No. 2 flight went the way of the Wildcats, but with slightly more competition, as Taryn Fujimori and Maggie Fiocchi improved to 10-2 on the year as a doubles team with an 8-4 win over Kalli Wiker and Cassey Hitch.

Linfield easily took the No. 3 flight with Allena Wong and Emma Tuttle teaming up for the 8-1 win against Ellie Mangan and Abigail Bond.

SINGLES
Linfield kept cruising to open singles, starting with Kern knocking off Brown 6-1, 6-2 in the top flight.

The No. 2 flight was he only of the day that the Wildcats were in danger of losing, but Fujimori was able to fend off Mangan 6-4, 0-6, 10-7 in a third set tiebreaker.
Fujimori is now 9-5 in singles competition this season.

The Bruins would not be able to hang with the Wildcats through the day's remaining action, as Linfield easily handled flights 3 through 6.

Matsunaga rolled to a win in the No. 3 flight, beating Wiker 6-1, 6-1 to clinch the match for Linfield at 5-0. Matsunaga moved to 10-3 in singles this year.

The fourth and fifth flights saw back-to-back shutouts for Linfield with Forester taking the No. 4 over Morris 6-0, 6-0 before Wong also won the fifth flight over Brenna Vanderyacht 6-0, 6-0. Forester now stands at 12-2 on her impressive sophomore season. Wong's record improved to 10-4.

In the No. 6 flight Fiocchi sealed the shutout for the Wildcats with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Hitch setting the final score at 9-0, Linfield.

Fiocchi remains tied with Forester for the team best records in singles, with a season mark of 12-2.

NEXT
The Wildcats will host the Pirates tomorrow at noon in the Northwest Conference Championship match. The Wildcats are ranked No. 8 in the ITA West Region rankings, while the Pirates are ranked No. 15. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs beginning May 12.