INDIANAPOLIS – The top team in the Northwest Conference is headed to Texas as the Linfield Wildcats are in the 49-team field for the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championships, released by the NCAA on Monday.
 
The Wildcats will take on the host Comets of The University of Texas at Dallas on Friday. Redlands and Trinity (Texas) will meet in Saturday's opening match. The winner of Linfield and UT Dallas will follow with a head-to-head matchup with top-seed Pomona-Pitzer, the No. 1 ranked team in the West Region and the No. 2 rated team in Division III in the latest ITA rankings, released May 5. A regional champion will be crowned in Sunday's title match. Match times are to be determined.
 
Linfield enters the week ranked No. 34 in Division III and No. 8 in the West Region under second-year head coach Ella Riddle Maliska, the 2022 NWC Coach of the Year. The 'Cats (14-2) completed a perfect 8-0 slate against NWC opponents and are riding a 13-match win streak. Their only losses were to Division I Portland State and Redlands.
 
The 'Cats claimed their fifth straight regular season championship and 16^th overall before cruising to the NWC's automatic berth after downing George Fox and Whitworth in the NWC Tournament.
 
Five Linfield players earned selection to the 2022 All-NWC Women's Tennis Team, including First Team All-NWC selections in seniors Tessa Kern and Taryn Fujimori. Juniors Lexie Matsunaga and Allena Wong and sophomore Sarah Forester all earned second-team honors.
 
The teams will play a single-elimination tournament in the first three regional rounds. The winner of Sunday's regional championship with advance to the team Division III Championships, which will be held May 23-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Athletes selected to the individual championships will be announced on Wednesday.