PORTLAND, Ore. – Linfield women's tennis was swept 7-0 Sunday on the road while visiting the Lewis & Clark River Otters.
"These 0-7 scores always look bad but what can't be seen in that score was the improvement that we made this weekend," said head coach
Phil Whitehead. "There has been a ton of growth and development and it bodes well for the second half of the season."
The shutout was compounded by Linfield's No. 2 singles entry
Samantha Baltz retiring due to injury after just four games despite an even start to her match.
"Today we were bit by the injury bug again," said Whitehead. "Our top four players all plaued with some sort of injury restriction the newest being Samantha. She gutted out her doubles match with Kaitlynn that saw them battle a very good duo from Lewis & Clark and come uo short, but three games into her signles match she had to retire due to the pain."
The visit to the River Otters' (7-3, 5-2) L&C Tennis Dome marked the first of six consecutive road matches for the Wildcats (0-10, 0-8).
DOUBLES
Lewis & Clark drew the first blood of doubles play with a 6-1 win at No. 3 for Emma Loucks and Madi Vianzon over freshman Wildcat duo
Gianna Molony and
Steffenie Stark.
The River Otters then clinched the doubles point for the match with an impressive 6-2 win at No. 1 by Susanna Anand and Charlotte Makoni against Baltz and
Kaitlynn Canubida. Lewis & Clark completed the doubles sweep with another 6-1 win by Maya Curry and Alex Mignona over
Lyla Khlee and
Sundi King.
SINGLES
Lewis & Clark was able to quickly take a 2-0 lead on the day when Baltz was forced to retire at No. 2 against Anna English. The lead grew to three when the River Otters got their first regulation singles win of the day at No. 4 where Mignona pulled away from King in the second set to win 6-3, 6-1.
The clincher came at No. 5 for the River Otters with a 6-1, 6-1 win for Vianzon over King to set the team score at 4-0.
The top flight of the day proved to be the most competitive in a compelling matchup of Canubida and Makoni, with the River Otter eventually winning 6-3, 6-4 at the top of the ladder.
"The soreness in Kaitlynn's left wrist really hampered her performance and although she fought hard and didn't back down, that explosiveness we are used to seeing was there as often today," said Whitehead. "And now the pain in Sundi's shoulder is really starting to affect her development, but still no quit."
The day's action wrapped up with a 6-3, 6-3 win for Curry against
Emily Redwood in the No. 3 contest and a 6-1, 6-0 win by a rested Emma Loucks over Khlee at the bottom of the lineup.
"Emily is still playing with stiffness and pain in her hip and back but continues to battle," said Whitehead. "Gianna and Lyla are beginning to shed their freshman inconsistencies and I'm looking forward to better play and some victories in the coming weeks. We're going to give the injured players an extra day off and really focus on strike production with the team this week, big matches coming up this weekend."
NEXT
The Wildcats continue their road stretch next weekend with the beginning of the second half of Northwest Conference play in a visit to Puget Sound (2-5, 2-9) in Tacoma, Wash., Saturday at 11 a.m.
Linfield then visits Willamette in Salem the next day before taking a two-week hiatus from league play to compete against three California programs over Linfield's academic spring break.
