VANCOUVER, Wash. – Linfield women's tennis completed their fall competition over the weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Fall Northwest Regional Championship, hosted by Lewis & Clark from Friday through Sunday at the Vancouver Tennis Center.
 
The Wildcats had to raise their level of play through the tournament, often seeded against top veteran competition from across the Northwest Conference.
 
"To be competitive the girls had to raise their level of game, and they did," said head coach Phil Whitehead. "They were able to raise their games even when losing to seeded players and then continued that level throughout the tournament."
 
The tournament was split into an "A draw" and a "B draw" for singles, with both draws holding consolation brackets as well. One draw with a consolation bracket was issued for doubles.
 
Linfield was led by senior Emma Tuttle's bounce-back response to win the consolation bracket of the A draw after a first-round exit, and sophomore Emily Redwood's run to the B draw semifinals.
 
Individual seeds were issued in each bracket for seeds No. 1-4 with four players or teams were grouped as seeds No. 5-8 with the remaining unseeded. In the B draw an additional eight were seeded as No. 9-16.
 
The weekend's results will be used by the ITA to determine national and regional rankings.
 
SINGLES
Tuttle faced stiff competition in the opening round of the A draw against Whitman's Ariana Castellanos, grouped into the No. 5-8 seeds and an eventual quarterfinalist on the weekend.
 
Although Tuttle's Friday ended in the first round she responded strongly on Saturday morning with a win in straight sets over Pacific's Tiara Yeung before winning a three-set battle in the consolation quarterfinals against Whitworth's Grace Smyley 6-4, 2-6, 11-9.
 
On Sunday Tuttle cruised in the semis with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win over Puget Sound's Kaylee Yamada before winning the final in a pair of hard-fought sets against Whitworth's Faith Kert, taking both by tiebreak 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
 
"She played [Castellanos] so tough, and it was a long match," said Whitehead of Tuttle's performance. "I'd never seen her play like that and she was able to keep that level, or raise it, and never really drop and that paid off with her winning the consolation final."
 
Sophomores Sam Baltz and Kaitlynn Canubida were also placed into the main draw. Both fell in the first round against seeded competition.
 
Two other Wildcats, both freshmen, were placed in the B draw along with Redwood in Sundi King and Lilliana Cano.
 
But Redwood was the headliner for Linfield in the B bracket, placed as a No. 5-8 seed and receiving a first-round bye.
 
Redwood delivered on her ranking, dropping the first set of her round of 32 match but eventually outlasted Lewis & Clark's Lauren Smith-Euben 1-6, 6-1, 10-8.
 
In the round of 16 she handled No. 9-12 seed Juhree Kizziar of George Fox 6-2, 6-4, then managed to upset the host Pioneers' Charlotte Makoni, the B draw No. 2 seed, 6-4, 6-4.
 
She eventually fell 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday's semifinal to Pacific senior and No. 3 seed Valentina Casab-Klescova, who went on to be crowned B draw champion later that day.
 
"Emily showed the talent level that she's capable of. The girl can hit the ball," said Whitehead. "She had moments where things got tough, but she was able to overcome those and put together more good than bad."
 
"I've been telling everyone that you can't always blast your way out of trouble, you have to sometimes think your way out of trouble and to see her do that was huge."
 
King also played well with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Willamette's Grace Osteen in the round of 32 after both had first round byes, before losing to top-seeded Jules Thompson of Whitman.
 
DOUBLES
The 'Cats managed just one win in the doubles tournament, from the pairing of Tuttle and Canubida, Linfield's presumed top duo this season, in Friday's opening round.
 
They took an 8-5 win over Willamette's Richelle Suzuki and Eva Leif before losing in the round of 16 to the No. 2 seeded team and eventual tournament champions in Pacific's Stella Nishimura and reigning NWC Player of the Year Cassidy Binder.
 
Two other young duos were placed in the doubles bracket for Linfield in a sophomore tandem of Baltz and Redwood and a freshman pairing of King and Cano – both teams fell in the first round.
 
NEXT
The Wildcats will train through the rest of fall and into winter before opening up their spring season in February.
 
"We're going to focus on getting stronger and preventing injuries," said Whitehead. "We played a lot of tennis this weekend and there were things we could prevent in the future if we build up some certain areas."
 
"And on the court, we're always stressing fundamentals and getting better. I want us to be a well-rounded team. We'll have to be ready; we've got a tough non-conference schedule. It's the only way to get better."