The women’s tennis team lost a tight match against the University of Puget Sound Loggers on March 15, losing 5-4.
The Wildcats got off to an early lead after doubles play taking two of the three matches. Sophomore Gretchen Jernstedt and senior Lexi Thomas took the number one doubles matchup, 8-5.
“In doubles, my partner Gretchen and I were able to come together and not give up,” Thomas said. “Some of our games took 10-15 minutes just to complete, but we knew that this was our match to win.”
Junior Caroline Brigham and freshman Kwynn Ecton lost a tightly contested number two doubles matchup, losing after a tiebreaker, 8-9 (1-7).
“For doubles, I wasn’t as aggressive as I have been in past matches,” Ecton said. “If I was more aggressive the outcome would have been different.”
Sophomores Katie Krieger and Kaila Nip took the final doubles match for the Wildcats, winning, 8-5.
The Loggers bounced back from their early deficit, taking four of the six singles matches, edging out the Wildcats in the final match up of the day.
The first three singles matches were all close, each match going to three sets.
Puget Sound’s Maddie Thiesse defeated Thomas in the number one singles match, 6-1, 2-6 and 6-4.
“Individually, I was able to place the ball more into the court, whereas the past few weeks I’ve been consistently hitting the ball three inches off the singles sideline,” Thomas said. “Also, I was able to control my anger more and not get frustrated after every shot I missed.”
Brigham won in the number one singles spot for the ’Cats. After dropping the first set 4-6, the junior bounced back taking the next two 6-1 and 7-5.
The Loggers took three of the other four singles matches, defeating Nip in the number three slot 6-3, 2-6 and 7-5, Ecton in the number four position 6-2, 6-3 and Krieger in the number six matchup 6-4, 6-3. Jernstedt took the number five singles match with a win over the Logger’s Josephine Dow, 7-5, 4-6 and 7-5.
The loss drops the Wildcats’ record to 4-7, 4-3 in Northwest Conference play, while the Loggers improve to 5-3 overall and hold the same mark in conference.
The Wildcats’ next match is in Newberg, Ore., to play the George Fox Bruins at 3 p.m. March 19.
“We came back from behind in a lot of our singles matches, which was good, but it wasn’t enough to win the match as a whole,” Brigham said. “For our next match against George Fox, we just need to play confidently with a lot of energy to help us take control of the match.”
Chris Haddeland
Senior reporter
Chris Haddeland can be reached at
