MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Despite dominant showings at the top of the lineup the Wildcats dropped a tightly contested match Sunday falling 4-3 to Willamette at the Linfield Tennis Center.
Hampered by injuries, the Linfield could not compete with Willamette's depth with two players who were forced to retire in Saturday's match pressed into duty, but
Emma Tuttle and
Kaitlynn Canubida showed commanding performances at No. 1 and 2 singles and No. 1 doubles.
It was the second win on the season for Willamette against three losses, all against conference opponents while Linfield fell to 1-7 in the Northwest Conference after battling injury and illness the first half of the season.
"The injury bug just keeps on biting us big time," said head coach
Phil Whitehead. "It's hard because this was a match we should have and expected to win."
DOUBLES
The Wildcats started the morning off with a bang as No. 1 doubles team
Emma Tuttle and
Kaitlynn Canubida controlled the top flight's action from the opening serve for a 6-0 win against Richelle Suzuki and Eva Lief.
The win was their first shutout as a duo and moved them back above .500 on the season at 3-2 as Linfield's lead team.
Willamette took a 6-2 win at No. 3 by veteran tandem Ruby Thompson and Marie Tarrab against Wildcat freshmen
Sundi King and Lilliana Cano before attention turned to a tight No. 2 match between
Sam Baltz and
Emily Redwood and Gio Horner and Sofia Spencer with the team score doubles point up for grabs.
With Redwood playing through injury sustained Saturday against Pacific the Bearcats' No. 2 pair managed to outlast Baltz and Redwood via tiebreak 7-6 (7-3) to put Willamette in front 1-0.
SINGLES
Moving outside from Rutschman Fieldhouse for singles action due to warmer weather by early afternoon, Linfield battled back for a 3-1 lead after Tuttle and Canubida delivered once again in addition to a comfortable win by Baltz at No. 3.
Tuttle earned her second win of her senior year as Linfield's No. 1 player with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Suzuki while Canubida improved to a team best 5-3 by beating Spencer 6-2, 6-1.
Canubida's record includes an impressive 4-1 mark at the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
Baltz ended up putting together one of her best performances of the season at No. 3, dismissing Lief 6-0, 6-1 for her second singles win of the year and the 10
th of her career.
Baltz's win seemingly set Linfield up to clinch, but Whitehead had been forced to pull Redwood from the singles lineup after her doubles match, making the Wildcats' three freshmen play a flight above their usual spots on the ladder.
This benefitted the Bearcats to the point of a comeback victory on the day.
At No. 4 singles King, who also was forced to exit due to health yesterday, lost to fellow freshman Horner 6-2, 6-3, while Thompson beat Cano 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5, while Alicia Sola bested
Elise Reese 6-2, 6-0 at No. 6.
"Tough day," said Whitehead. "We just need to get healthy and start doing what it takes to win matches. We are better than this."
NEXT
Linfield hosts cross-county rival George Fox (7-1, 6-1) next Saturday March 15 at 11 a.m.
The Wildcats then take a break from NWC play to visit three schools in California over Linfield's spring break from March 24 through March 27 before resuming league action March 29.
