SALEM, Ore. – Emma Tuttle won the final singles match of her career at Willamette on Sunday but Linfield lost to the Bearcats 5-2 in the last match of the season.
 
The senior from Ridgefield, Wash. finished her career with a 27-18 record in singles play, a win percentage of .600.
 
Linfield, unable to field a full lineup for much of the year due to injury and illness, had six active players and was able to field a lineup for the first time with March 9 in their first meeting with the Bearcats.
 
Linfield's season ended with a record of 1-14. Willamette finished the year at 3-11.
 
DOUBLES
The Bearcats managed to come out strong on their home courts for doubles action, managing a sweep over the hobbled Wildcats.
 
"We got off to a really slow start today," said Whitehead. "I was expecting more and so was the team, but Willamette came out with more energy to pull of the sweep."
 
At the top of the scorecard Tuttle and partner Kaitlynn Canubida were beat by Willamette's No. 1 team of Alexa de Crinis and Ruby Thompson, the Bearcat duo winning 6-2.
 
Tuttle and Canubida finish the year 4-8 as Linfield's No. 1 team. Tuttle finishes her career with 28 doubles wins.
 
Willamette took another 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles by Richelle Suzuki and Eva Leif as well as a 6-0 win at No. 3 for Gio Horner and Sofia Spencer to take a 1-0 lead going into singles.
 
"This was the first time in a month that we fielded a compete roster for a match but both Emily Redwood and Elise Reese were not even close to 100 percent today," said Whitehead. "I admire their determination and their guts to try and play for their team and maybe help us end the season with a 'dub.'
 
SINGLES
Both Tuttle and Canubida immediately responded to their loss by shaking off defeat begin singles action with straight sets win for Linfield's two points of the day.
 
At the top of the ladder Tuttle took down de Crinis 7-5, 6-4 to cap off her career with a win, while Canubida cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Horner at No. 2.
 
Tuttle finishes her final season with four wins in singles, playing as the Wildcat's No. 1 the entire season. Canubida improved to 8-7 overall to end her sophomore campaign a win above .500, with a 7-6 record when playing as Linfield's No. 2.
 
"Emma and Kaitlynn fought off the frustration from their doubles set to each capture straight sets wins to finish the season. It was awesome to see Emma get the win in her last collegiate match. Very happy for her but at the same time very sad for our program."
 
At No. 3, Redwood gutted her way through her first match since March 8, but fell at the hands of Suzuki 6-0, 6-2.
 
Willamette got wins in the bottom three flights of the match as well, with Spencer beating King and Lief beating Cano both in 6-0, 6-0 contests, while Thompson beat Reese 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6.
 
"I'm looking forward to having the rest of the team back next year with another year of experience and hopefully healthier," said Whitehead. "We're putting in lots of hours recruiting to fil our needs and up our level of play. I promise the 'Cats will be back soon."
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