The Northwest Conference released its first Student-Athletes of the Week for tennis on Monday and Linfield made its presence known.
 
Taryn Fujimori's season is off to a great start following her decision to return to Linfield and use her fifth year of eligibility. She was named the NWC Women's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week, claiming an award she received twice in 2022.
 
A two-time First Team All-NWC selection, Fujimori led the Wildcats to a 9-0 rout of Willamette in their first home match of the year. She blanked the Bearcats' Richelle Suzuki, 8-0, in No. 1 singles before pairing up with teammate Lexie Matsunaga in a dominating 6-0 win over Suzuki and Anika Groener in No. 1 doubles.
 
Linfield men's tennis didn't earn a weekly award last season. Newcomer Brooks Lerfald made sure that wasn't going to happen in 2023, opening his debut spring season with NWC Men's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week honors.
 
Lerfald went 2-0 on the week in singles matches and was a member of two winning doubles teams. In the Wildcats' 6-3 loss to William Jessup, the freshman won No. 3 singles over Austroberto Carlon, 6-3, 7-5. He and teammate Blake Fuentes Gilbert took a close No. 1 doubles flight with an 8-7 victory. In an 8-1 win over Willamette, Lerfald bested the Bearcats' Velibor Mladenovic, 8-3, in No. 2 singles and teamed up with Matous Young for a 7-5 win in No. 2 doubles.
 
The Linfield women are back at home on Feb. 18 for an exhibition match with British Columbia. The team will head down to California on Feb. 23-26 for matches at Whittier, Redlands and Occidental.
 
The Wildcat men will also be in California on Feb. 22-25 as they're set to take on Whittier, Westcliff, Caltech and Redlands.