Whitworth College heads into this weekend's NWC tournament as the fifth seed, of six teams that qualified to participate in the event. All of the tournament matches will take place at the Yakima Tennis Club. The Pirates will open the tournament with an 8:00 am match on Friday against Whitman (the fourth seed). If the Pirates win, they would play top-seeded Linfield in a semi-final at 12:30 pm. If Whitworth loses the first match, the Bucs would play either PLU or Willamette for 5th place overall at 3:30 on Friday. A win Friday morning means the team would certainly play again on Saturday. Whitworth is hoping to put together a healthy, full squad for the first time in several weeks. After suffering through a weekend trip to Tacoma in which several players were battling the flu, Whitworth had to play a doubleheader against Whitman last weekend without the services of three of the top four players for both matches. The Bucs dropped four in a row during that stretch. But even short handed, Whitworth pulled things together to defeat Willamette last Friday. The Pirates lost to Whitman 5-3 in the first meeting last Thursday. Jamie Kneese was not available to play, but Linh Aven put up a strong fight at #1 singles before losing a tiebreaker in the third set. Sandy Fujitani was leading her match when it was called after the team win was determined. Whitworth hopes that with Kneese available, the Bucs can knock off the Missionaries in the first round on Friday. |
