THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Linfield women's tennis ended its spring break trip through southern California Wednesday morning with a 6-0 loss at Cal Lutheran at the Regals' home Poulson Tennis Center.
The match, originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m., was moved up to 9 a.m. to accommodate travel for Linfield and played in reverse order with singles competition taking place first, to accommodate academic obligations for Cal Lutheran.
All three doubles flights went unfinished, resulting in the 6-0 score, as the Wildcats headed to the airport to return to Oregon and the Regals headed to class after a singles sweep by Cal Lutheran.
The Regals entered the day with six wins on the year against just one loss to NCAA Division II opponent Westmont to open their season on February 4.
Wednesday's match was the second meeting between the non-conference foes of the season after the Regals bested the 'Cats 4-0 on February 15 in McMinnville.
SINGLES
"We all got off to a slow start," said head coach
Phil Whitehead. "Which I'm sure the two-hour early morning drive might have had something to do with."
Cal Lutheran took advantage of the road-weary Wildcats with three 6-0, 6-0 wins in the bottom three flights of the day, with Anaya Ayanbejo beating
Gianna Molony at No. 4, Eva Toplak winning against
Lyla Khlee at No. 5 and
Lilianna Cano falling to Hanna Houwari at No. 6.
From there the Regals clinched victory for the dual match at 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-1 win by Evelyn Oltmans over
Sundi King at No. 3 singles.
The Wildcats managed to win at least a game in both sets in the top two flights of the day, with
Kaitlynn Canubida dropping the No. 1 match to Kylee Limpias 6-1, 6-1 and
Emily Redwood falling 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 to Anya Rajan.
"Once we got into the matches Kaitlynn, Emily and Lilianna really began to find a groove and raise their level of play," said Whitehead. "At No. 3 Sundi continues to work hard on her consistency and is showing great improvement."
"This was the end of a long week against the best of the SCIAC and I believe it is really going to help us when we return to conference play on Sunday."
NEXT
Linfield returns to McMinnville, Ore. to resume Northwest Conference play on Sunday, March 29 at 11 a.m. as the 'Cats host Whitworth as part of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 'College Tennis Weekend.'
The Wildcats then host Pacific on April 4 before visiting George Fox on April 11 in Newberg, Ore. for their final road match of the regular season, which wraps up the following day when Linfield hosts Lewis & Clark.
