SPOKANE, Wash. - In a match up of unbeaten Northwest Conference women's tennis teams, Whitworth made a strong statement with an 8-1 win over visiting Whitman on Sunday afternoon at the Scotford Tennis Center. The Pirates completed a weekend sweep of UPS, PLU and Whitman to improve to 9-2 overall and 8-0 in the NWC. The Missionaries fell to 6-2, 6-1 and saw a six match winning streak come to an end. Whitworth swept through the doubles matches. Rachel Burns and Alli Marshall defeated Elise Otto and Margo Lentz 8-3 at #1 doubles, while Linh Aven and Mya Towne won 8-2 over Divneet Kaur and Katie Oost at #2 doubles. The #3 set between Justine Hays and Katie Stuadinger of Whitworth and Hadley DeBree and Emily Rolston of Whitman was a rollercoaster. The Pirates jumped ahead 3-0 before the Missionaries won six straight games. The Whitworth pair rebounded to win the next five games for an 8-6 win. Whitman's highly-ranked Otto won the only Missionary point of the match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Burns at #1 singles. Otherwise the Pirates swept through the rest of the ladder. Marshall defeate DeBree 6-2, 6-1 at #2 and Aven topped Oost 6-3, 6-4 at #3 singles. Erica Bosman won handily over Rolston 6-2, 6-2 at #5 and Staudinger improved to 10-0 in singles play this season with a 6-2, 6-1 win at #6 singles. Kaur looked to push the #4 singles match to three sets, leading 5-2 in the second. But Towne rallied to force a tiebreak, which she won 7-0. Whitworth will travel to Oregon in two weeks for three key road matches at Lewis & Clark (Friday, March 13), Willamette (Saturday) and six-time defending NWC champion Linfield (Sunday). |
