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Box Score 2 BOISE, IDAHO AND WALLA WALLA, WASH. – Linfield women's tennis got its spring season going over the weekend with a trip to the inland Pacific Northwest for an exhibition, a non-conference match and the Wildcats' Northwest Conference opener against reigning league champion Whitman.
The 'Cats (0-2, 0-1) began their weekend with an exhibition at Division I Boise State at the Broncos' Boas Indoor Tennis Center, before officially starting their season Saturday against NAIA program College of Idaho (1-2) in a neutral-site match also hosted by Boise State.
"We have a lot of hard work that needs to be done in the upcoming practice days, but we still had some positive moments from everyone," said head coach
Phil Whitehead. "I feel confident that we will get better and make some noise in our conference."
Linfield fell to the Yotes 6-1 with a lone point scored by Kaitlyn Canubida in the top singles match of the day.
Canubida was promoted into Linfield's No. 1 spot in the lineup for the weekend with Linfield's expected No. 1 and lone upperclassman, senior
Emma Tuttle, falling ill after Friday's exhibition.
Canubida was paired with fellow sophomore
Emily Redwood as Linfield's lead doubles team but fell to College of Idaho's Hristina Ljuba and Nicole Tran 6-1.
The Yotes earned Saturday's doubles point via sweep with Berkley Klarich and Adele Long beating
Sam Baltz and
Sundi King 6-1 at No. 2 doubles and freshmen duo Lilliana Cano and
Elise Reese falling 6-0 at No. 3 to Elizabeth Sagehorn and Alissa Rautenberg.
But Canubida was able to respond at the top of the singles ladder with a gritty win over Ljuba, winning by a 10-point third set tiebreaker 6-4, 2-6, 10-6. It was the Linfield sophomore's first career win at No. 1 singles.
In the No. 2 contest Baltz fell to Long 6-2, 6-2, while King was the only other Wildcat to win multiple games on Friday in a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Tran.
Linfield faced a tough task the following day in Walla Walla at the Bratton Indoor Tennis Center to open NWC play against Whitman (2-1, 1-1), the No. 40 ranked team in Division III by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The Blues set the tone with a sweep through doubles, with Teleya Blunt and Jin-Olivia Yu beating Canubida and Redwood 6-1 at No. 1, Nana Vang and Sascha Wells defeating Baltz and King 6-0 at No. 2 and Arianna Castellanos and Juliene Thompson topping King and Reese 6-2 in No. 3.
Canubida had her work cut out for her in the top singles flight against Blunt, the ITA's No. 44 ranked singles player in the country and top-ranked player in the NWC.
She fought valiantly through the first set, forcing Blunt to take the first frame by tiebreak, but the Whitman junior pulled away in the second for the first of six straight-sets victories for the Blues, eventually winning 7-6 (10-7), 6-1.
At No. 2 singles Baltz fell to Jha 6-1, 6-1, and at the No. 4 spot of the ladder King lost 6-1, 6-1 to Yu. Linfield was unable to win a game in the remaining three matches.
NEXT
Linfield continues a six-match road stretch to open the season next weekend facing their cross-county rival George Fox (1-0) in Newberg on Friday, Feb. 14 at 4:00.
The Wildcats then face another tough road trip the following weekend at Lewis & Clark in Portland on Feb. 22 and at Puget Sound in Tacoma on Feb. 23. They'll play their first home match of the year March 1 against Whitworth.
