MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield women's tennis program began their season with a home win on Saturday, topping the Lewis & Clark Pioneers 6-3 in Rutschman Fieldhouse in a non-conference match.
Â
The Pioneers (0-2) got strong showings in the top flights to take the No. 1 singles and doubles contests, but the Wildcats' (1-0) depth proved to be the difference for the match.
Â
DOUBLES
In the top doubles flight
Sarah Forester and
Emma Tuttle fell to the Pioneers' top pairing of Sussanna Anand and Seraphina Vossen, 8-6.
Â
But Linfield managed to take the lead with wins in the second and third matches.
Â
The Wildcats won both matches 8-3, with
Alexis Garner and
Kaitlynn Canubida surpassing Emma Loucks and Hayley Kreps in the No. 2 flight and
Lisa Ponti and
Samantha Baltz beating Charlotte Makoni and Kacie Lau in the third.
Â
SINGLES
In the No. 1 flight Forester struggled against Anand, falling 6-0, 6-1, but was picked up by her teammates, picking up Linfield wins in flights 2-6.
Â
Tuttle braved a three-set battle against Vossen in the No. 2 flight, falling by tiebreak in the first set before responding with a tiebreak win in the second to force a 10-point third set, eventually winning 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (11-9), 10-7.
Â
Canubida earned a comfortable win in the No. 3 flight over Loucks, 6-2, 6-3, while Garner took the first set of the No. 4 match easily over Kreps before having to win the second by tiebreak to win 6-3, 7-7 (7-5).
Â
Baltz stumbled for a moment in the No. 5 flight, dropping the first set, but responded mightily going forward to top Lewis & Clark's Arielle Bloom 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
Â
The Pioneers got their third win of the match in the No. 6 flight with Makoni topping Ponti 6-4, 6-2 to set the final score on the day at 6-3, Linfield.
Â
NEXT
The Wildcats will head to Walla Walla, Washington on Friday to take on Colorado College (1-4) at the Bratton Indoor Center, hosted by Whitman College.
Â
Linfield then returns home for a pair of matches against opponents from California against Cal Lutheran (0-1) on Sunday, before hosting UC-Santa Cruz (4-1) on Monday. Both matches will start at 10:00 AM.
