WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Linfield women's tennis was on the wrong end of a sweep for the first time this season on Sunday, falling to the Whitman Blues 9-0 in Bratton Indoor Tennis Center.
 
Whitman (7-3, 3-0) is reigning champion of the Northwest Conference and is currently ranked No. 40 in Division-III by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
 
Linfield (2-5, 1-3) had not been swept since its regular season meeting last year with Whitman in McMinnville.
 
DOUBLES
The Blues established themselves early on with a sweep through doubles.
 
In the No. 1 doubles contest, Sarah Forester and Emma Tuttle put up a strong effort against Whitman's top team of Teleya Blunt and Arianna Castellano, but ultimately fell 8-5.
 
At No. 2 doubles, Olivia-Jin Yu and Elisabeth Carter defeated Alexis Garner and Kaitlynn Canubida 8-3, snapping a four-match winning streak for the Linfield duo.
 
Whitman completed the doubles sweep with Ilina Jha and Sascha Wells topping Lisa Ponti and Samantha Baltz 8-2 to set the match score at 3-0 heading into singles.
 
SINGLES
Whitman left little doubt through singles, starting with dominant wins at the top of the ladder.
 
In the top singles flight, Forester fell to Blunt 6-2, 6-4 while Yu beat Tuttle 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to clinch the match for the Blues early on at 5-0.
 
Yu is ranked as the 13^th best D-III singles player in the West Region by the ITA while Blunt is ranked 18^th.
 
At No. 3 singles Jha beat Canubida 6-1, 6-3 while Wells dismissed Garner 6-1, 6-2 in just 47 minutes.
 
Whitman rounded out the sweep with a rested Eric Mock beating Baltz 7-6, 6-0 and Julia Longpre, also coming in fresh to singles play, beating Ponti 6-1, 6-3.
 
NEXT
Linfield will now take a well-earned 10-day break from competition and will wait nearly three weeks before resuming NWC play.
 
The Wildcats host the Wellesley College Blue (singular, as opposed to Whitman's plural "Blues") of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference. The Massachusetts-based program has only collected a 1-1 record to this point in the season.
 
Linfield then travels to California to take on Occidental on March 27 and Division-II Point Loma Nazarene on March 28. The Wildcats return home to host Puget Sound on March 31.
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