MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Wildcats found themselves on the wrong end of a narrow loss to open the 2026 Northwest Conference slate on Saturday, falling 4-3 to Puget Sound inside Rutschman Fieldhouse.
The Loggers (1-0, 1-0) got out to an early lead thanks a strong doubles performance and even though the Wildcats (0-2, 0-1) took the top three flights of singles play, it was Puget Sound's depth at the bottom of the ladder that was the difference on the day.
"This one stung a little," said head coach
Phil Whitehead. "It felt like we were going to pick up the win, even after losing the doubles point, I was still confident. There are no pushovers in the league this year and everyone will need to bring their 'A' game."
DOUBLES
The Wildcats managed to avoid the doubles sweep thanks to a stellar performance by Linfield's top doubles pair of juniors
Kaitlynn Canubida and
Samantha Baltz.
The Loggers managed to even the score at a win apiece with a 6-2 victory for Zoe Richter and Ginger Parker against freshmen 'Cats duo Lyla Khee and
Steffenie Stark, and then took the doubles point with a win in the most competitive doubles flight of the day, Nicole Wilson and Frances English outlasting
Sundi King and
Gianna Molony 6-4.
SINGLES
The Wildcats responded right back to start singles as Canubida and Baltz immediately shook off their doubles loss to give Linfield a 2-1 lead.
Canubida was forced to win a seventh game in her first set but commanded the action late in the second to win the top flight 7-6, 6-4 over Yamada, while Baltz managed to survive a tight three-set match with English 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, improving to 2-0 on the young season.
Linfield looked poised for victory with a terrific performance in the No. 3 match, where
Emily Redwood beat Bean Lowe 6-4, 6-4, to give Linfield a 3-1 lead.
"Our juniors at one, two, three took care of business," said Whitehead. "Emily, still not at 100 percent, gutted out her win followed by Kaitlynn in a very tough two-set win. And Sam picked up her set with a huge three set back and forth win. She's just so mentally tough."
The success stopped there though, as the Loggers faced little resistance in the final three flights.
At No. 4 King gave a competitive effort in the first set but in the end lost to Wilson 6-4, 6-1, while Molony fell to Buck 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5.
"We struggled at four, five and six and this was a surprise to me," said Whitehead. "These ladies struggled with their overall consistency adnd their ground strokes as well as serving. Both Sundi and Gianna showed signs of what they have to offer but just couldn't put it together."
Puget Sound clinched victory in the final contest of the day with a 6-1, 6-2 victory by a rested Meredith Friess over Khlee, setting the final score at 4-3.
NEXT
Tomorrow, the Wildcats will play a doubleheader against mixed opponets, first hosting Northwest Conference foe Willamette (0-2, 0-1) at 9 a.m. before welcoming California Lutheran (1-1, 0-0) to McMinnville for an evening match a 6 p.m.
Linfield then travels northeast next weekend to visit the Whitman Blues and the Whitworth Pirates.
