TACOMA, Wash. - Taking the top four singles flights in straight sets, the Wildcats earned their first win of the season Sunday in a comfortable 5-2 victory at Puget Sound.
 
"Unlike yesterday, we stayed mentally tough in singles with impressive wins at two, three and four and Emma Tuttle battled throughout to pick up her first win," said head coach Phil Whitehead.
 
Playing the final of five road matches to begin the spring season after visiting Lewis & Clark in Portland last night, Linfield controlled the action from the moment the 'Cats stepped on the court to take the doubles point.
 
"It was a great team win and it feels so good to see this team pick up the victory," said Whitehead.
 
The win improved Linfield to 1-4 on the year and 1-3 in the Northwest Conference. The Loggers fell to 1-5 and 1-4 in conference play.
 
DOUBLES
Linfield took commanding wins in both doubles flights to quickly clinch the team score point.
 
At No. 1 doubles Tuttle and Kaitlynn Canubida faced little resistance from Puget Sound's lead team of Hyla Chatham and Krishna Agrawal for a 6-1 win. The Wildcats' top tandem concluded their first weekend paired together at 2-0.
 
Sophomore Sam Baltz and Emily Redwood impressed with a dominant win at the No. 2 flight to clinch the doubles point for the 'Cats, blanking Pearl Buck and Zoe Hughes 6-0.
 
The Loggers avoided the doubles sweep with a win at No. 3 for Paige Shinall and Ginger Parker over freshmen Sundi King and Lilliana Cano.
 
SINGLES
Linfield started its strong singles performance at the top of the ladder with Tuttle taking two competitive sets from Shinall. The Wildcats' lone upperclassman took a 6-4, 7-6 (3-0) win for her first victory of the season at the No. 1 spot.
 
Canubida continued her strong play at No. 2 sinlges to improve to 3-2 on the year with a confident 6-1, 6-2 win against Agnawal. The Linfield sophomore did not drop a match in either of the weekend's matches, allowing her opponents to win just a combined four games in singles competition.
 
Both Baltz and Redwood earned their first singles wins of the year in commanding fashion, Baltz winning 6-1, 6-1 over Chatham at the third spot in the lineup and Redwood beating Buck 6-0, 6-2.
 
King barely missed out on the first win of her career for a second straight match, falling in three sets to Hughes at No. 5, the Logger narrowly taking the match by tiebreak 7-5, 5-7, 10-4 in the only flight of the day to reach three sets.
 
"Another tough loss for Sundi. I'm very confident that as soon as she learns how to close out matches, she is going to be a key contributor for this team," said Whitehead.
 
No. 6 singles wrapped up with Richter beating Cano 6-0, 6-0. "She continues to show improvements and the wins will come soon," said Whitehead.
 
NEXT
The 'Cats will play their first home matches of the year this upcoming weekend when they host Whitworth on Saturday, March 1 and Whitman on Sunday March 2.
 
The Pirates will bring a 1-3 (1-2) record to McMinnville while the defending NWC champion Blues currently sit at 4-2 (3-1) and are third in the league standings.
 
Both matches will begin at 11:00. Read Full Article