WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The Linfield women's tennis team fell 7-2 on Friday at the hands of the Colorado College Tigers in Bratton Indoor Tennis Center at Whitman College.
 
The Wildcats (1-1) were only down one match on the day after doubles play thanks to a Linfield win in the No. 1 doubles flight, but the Tigers (3-4) owned singles play to the tune of a 5-1 margin to take the match.
 
DOUBLES
Sarah Forester and Emma Tuttle got their first win of the spring season as Linfield's No. 1 pair on the doubles ladder in the top doubles flight over the Tigers' Kala Komanduri and Gigi Jensen.
 
It was a hard-fought win for Tuttle and Forester, battling to a tiebreak to eventually win 8-7 (8-6).
 
In the No. 2 flight Alexis Garner and Kaitlyn Canubida fell to Colorado's Avery Hickman and Christina Heffron 8-2, while Lisa Ponti and Samantha Baltz faced a similar story as Forester and Tuttle in the No. 3, but unfortunately with a different ending.
 
Ponti and Baltz tangled with Lindsay Popeo and Elizabeth Girian all the way to a tiebreak, but it was the Tiger pairing that was able to outlast with an 8-7 (7-5) win to set the score on the day at 2-1, Colorado, heading into singles.
 
SINGLES
The Tigers managed to get through singles play with all five wins coming in straight sets over Linfield.
 
The Wildcats' one win in singles came from the freshman Baltz in the No. 6 flight, responding with wins in the second set and a narrow tiebreaking third after dropping the first to down Girian 4-6, 6-1, 11-9.
 
Baltz has begun her singles career undefeated through her first two matches, the only Wildcat holding a 2-0 mark on the young season.
 
In the top singles flight Komanduri topped Forester 6-3, 6-2 while Tuttle fell in the No. 2 flight 6-0, 6-1. In the No. 3 flight Heffron beat Canubida 6-2, 6-3, and in the No. 4 Popeo was able to outlast Garner 6-3, 6-4.
 
In the No. 5 flight Ponti nearly managed to force a third set to stay alive, but ended up falling 6-3, 7-6 to Colorado's Marina Seidl, who had sat through singles action.
 
Baltz's win in the sixth to close the match allowed the Wildcats to end the day on a positive note and avoid the singles sweep.
 
NEXT
The Wildcats return home to host Cal Lutheran (1-1) in a men's and women's double header on Sunday at 10:00. The Linfield women then host UC-Santa Cruz (4-1) on Monday also at 10:00.
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