MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Linfield saw strong singles wins at the top of the Wildcat lineup but could not come up with a team victory Sunday hosting the Puget Sound Loggers.
The 'Cats were once again shorthanded with only five active players and forced to forfeit a team point in singles and one of the day's three doubles flights.
Despite Puget Sound sweeping doubles competition to take a 2-0 lead Linfield showed resolve with competitive performances in singles.
"Before the match we talked as a team about taking ownership of our situation and fighting through it on the court," said head coach
Phil Whitehead. "The last things I said before we started today was simple: 'do not quit.' And today no one quit. They didn't quit on their team, they didn't quit on themselves and they kept fighting."
Puget Sound improved to 3-9 on the year with two of the Loggers' wins coming in their last three matches. Linfield fell to 1-11 on the season.
DOUBLES
Puget Sound quickly put together their doubles sweep with one win already in hand.
The Loggers moved the scoreboard to 2-0 with a shutout win for Hyla Chatham and Pearl Buck over Linfield freshmen
Lilianna Cano and
Sundi King.
Shortly after, Paige Shinall and Kaylee Yamada completed the doubles sweep with a 6-1 win against
Emma Tuttle and
Kaitlynn Canubida.
SINGLES
Tuttle and Canubida both turned in determined wins to highlight the day for the 'Cats at the top of the ladder.
Tuttle came out of the gate hot with a commanding win in her first set with Yamada, but the Logger responded with a solid second. In the third frame Tuttle quickly took control of the 10-point third-set tiebreak to win 6-1, 2-6, 10-4. It was her third win of the year at the top of the Wildcat lineup.
Canubida managed to win her flight against Shinall in straight sets despite having to take a seventh game to close out the second, improving to 6-6 in singles on the season with a 6-2, 7-5 victory.
"Two third-set tiebreaks for Emma this weekend and this time she found a way to win," said Whitehead. "And Kaitlynn took command early but when things got close in the second set, she found the way to close it out."
Linfield could not find wins elsewhere in the lineup but saw fight from young players filling out the scorecard.
At No. 3 singles King had to play a rested Krishna Agrawal, who sat through doubles competition with no No. 3 match being played. King battled valiantly with Agrawal early on but eventually was outlasted 6-4, 6-0.
Elise Reese saw the same score appear next to her name in her loss to Buck at No. 5, while Chatham beat Cano 6-2, 6-1.
"Sundi continuously battled back into points and stayed competitive all match long," said Whitehead. "Lilianna and Elise began and to find some success to and fought hard. We did not quit today and I am so very proud of all of them."
NEXT
The Wildcats travel to Spokane, Wash. next Saturday, April 6 to face the Whitworth Pirates (8-7, 5-5) at 11 a.m.
Linfield plays its final home match the following Saturday against Pacific before wrapping up the season April 13 at Willamette.
