WALLA WALLA, WASH. – The Linfield Wildcats women's tennis team, reigning champions of the Northwest Conference, saw action against top NWC competition this past weekend at the Women's Fall ITA Division III Northwest Regional Championship.

The weekend was highlighted for Linfield by senior Taryn Fujimori's appearance in both the quarterfinals of the "A" singles main bracket and the doubles main bracket with sophomore partner Emma Tuttle. Junior Allena Wong and sophomore Sarah Forester reached the doubles quarterfinal round as a team as well.

"I'm really proud of how my team performed this weekend against tough competition on the road," said Interim Director of Tennis Ella Riddle Maliska. "The ladies worked incredibly well together and showed amazing sportsmanship in tricky situations, including early mornings and late-night matches."

"This weekend is always such a great opportunity for us as it lets us highlight areas to work on and for the players to improve independently through their offseason, to be ready to go in the spring."
 
SINGLES
Seeded as a No.'s 5-8 in the singles draw, Fujimori executed an impressive run while battling a difficult field.

She opened the tournament by defeating Pacific Lutheran's Chloe Andrewjeski 6-3, 7-5 in the first round before fighting through a three-set match with Whitman's Erica Mock to win 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 and advance to the quarterfinals.

It was there that Fujimori was eliminated by No. 1 overall seed and reigning tournament champion Angel Le, also of Whitman, 6-1, 6-3.

Wong cruised to a first-round victory against Puget Sound's Zoe Love, 6-0, 6-0, but faced a difficult task in the second round against Pacific's Sydnie Binder, the No. 3 seed in the tournament. Binder dispatched Wong 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Tuttle took care of business in the opening round against Whitworth's Rose Matsunaga 6-2, 6-3, but drew a top-8 seed in the second round, Whitman's Teleya Blunt. Blunt beat Tuttle 6-2, 6-1 on her way to a semi-finals appearance, ultimately falling to No. 2 seed and eventual tournament champion Cassidy Binder of Pacific.

Both Wong and Tuttle were able to bounce-back in the second-round consolation draw, eliminating the rest of the field to be named co-champions of the bracket.

Forester was eliminated in the first round, falling in a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 match to Whitman's Julia Longpre. Longpre was also a victim of Binder's championship run, falling in the following round.

Freshman Lisa Ponti impressed in the "B" singles main bracket, advancing through several difficult matches to the semi-finals, before falling to "B" bracket No. 3 seed Grace Carter of Whitman.

"I would like to highlight our freshman, Lisa," said Riddle Maliska. "She already did a fantastic job of embracing the Wildcat fight and tenacity in battling through three third-set matches."
 
DOUBLES
Fujimori and Tuttle led the Wildcats into the doubles draw as the No. 3-seeded pairing of the tournament, while Wong and Forester were placed as one of four No.'s 5-8 seeds.

"Our doubles lineup was also very impressive and really went into the competition embracing all the advice myself and [assistant coach] Tessa Kern had given them in the weeks prior of training," said Maliska Riddle. "That showed in two teams reaching the quarterfinals."

Fujimori and Tuttle, in just their second time being paired together in official contests, took care of business in the opening round against Pacific's Valentina Casab-Klescova and Keilyn Futter 8-3.

They then defeated George Fox's Abigail Bond and Elizabeth Cook with ease, 8-2, before falling to the Whitman duo of Mock and Blunt, a top-8 seeded pairing, 8-3 in the quarterfinals.

Wong and Forester opened their run with a win over Whitman's Mae Thorp and Piper Rylander before beating UPS duo Love and Paige Shinall, 8-3.

Wong and Forester were eliminated after a hard-fought quarterfinal battle with the No. 4 seeded team, also from Whitman, of Ilina Jha and Camilla Tarpey-Schwed, who won 8-5.

Sophomore Alexis Garner was paired with Ponti, but the young duo was eliminated after a tight, 8-7, 7-4 first round battle with Lewis and Clark's Hayley Kreps and Kacie Lau.

Garner and Ponti went on to reach the quarterfinals of the double's consolation bracket.

"This weekend highlighted the really great things to come with this team in the spring," said Maliska Riddle. "And I think only motivated the girls more to fight for another conference title."
 
NEXT
The Wildcats will now head into the offseason to prepare for defending their NWC title in the spring of 2023.