MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield women's tennis team fell 9-0 at home Friday afternoon at the hands of the Whitman Blues.
The loss snapped a 36-match regular season win streak against Northwest Conference opponents for the Wildcats (5-2, 2-1), the three-time defending league champions.
The last loss for Linfield at the hands of an NWC opponent also came against the Blues (3-3, 2-0) in the championship round of the 2018 Northwest Conference Tournament, Whitman winning 5-3.
The last regular season loss for Linfield to a conference rival was in 2016 to Lewis and Clark in an 8-1 win for the Pioneers. The 'Cats have not been shut out by any NWC team since the 2014 season, also by the Blues.
DOUBLES
The Blues set the tone early in the match by securing wins in all three doubles flights.
In the top-flight Linfield's
Lexie Matsunaga and
Allena Wong faced a tough task going up against Whitman's Angel Le and Arianna Castellanos.
Le and Castellanos are ranked as the No. 6 doubles team in Division-III nationally and No. 2 in the West Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Blues' top duo ended up winning 8-3.
It was just the second loss this season for Matsunaga and Wong when playing as a team.
The No. 2 and No. 3 flights featured plenty of back-and-forth action despite both contests going to Whitman.
In the No. 2 flight
Taryn Fujimori and
Emma Tuttle were felled by the Blues' Jin Yu and Teleya Blunt, 8-6.
Sarah Forester and
Alexis Garner were able to force a tiebreaker in the No. 3 against Ilina Jha and Camilla Tarpey-Schwed, but eventually lost 8-7 with the tiebreaker going 7-1 in favor of Jha and Tarpey-Schwed.
SINGLES
With a 3-0 lead in hand on the match Whitman continued their strong play at the top of singles action.
Fujimori and Le played a tightly contested match in the No. 1 flight before Le pulled away in the second set to win 6-4, 6-1.
In the No. 2 flight Castellanos handled Matsunaga 6-0, 6-1, clinching the win on the day for the Blues at 5-0.
Forester put up an admirable fight early against Yu in the No. 3 flight but eventually lost 6-3, 6-0.
In the No. 4 singles flight Tarpey-Schwed beat Wong 6-0, 6-0 while Jha beat Tuttle 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 5.
Whitman completed the shutout with Blunt topping Linfield's
Lisa Ponti 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 6 flight.
NEXT
The Wildcats will have a quick chance to bounce-back, hosting the Whitworth Pirates (4-3, 1-1) tomorrow at 11:00 AM.
Linfield takes the following weekend off from competition before hosting Colorado College in a non-conference match on March 26 before resuming NWC action in Tacoma at Pacific Lutheran on April 1 and at Puget Sound on April 2.
