Freshman Kwynn Ecton serves in doubles against Lewis & Clark opponents Lisa Oespyan and Isabella Borris en route to a 8-4 victory.
Women’s tennis, in matches April 5 and 6, first lost a home-court match to Lewis & Clark College, 8-1, then redeemed itself in an away game against Pacific Lutheran University, winning 6-3.
Inside, due to bad weather on Friday, the ’Cats lost two of their three doubles matches early on, leaving sophomores Kelly Watanabe and Kaila Nip on the No. 3 court to win the only point of the afternoon for Linfield in their doubles match against the Pioneers.
Linfield recently lost a match to Lewis & Clark in a 7-2 match March 22.
“We played very well,” sophomore Katie Krieger said. “We weren’t really expecting to win against a team ranked second, but we did our best and we were happy with our level of commitment.”
At the Pacific Lutheran campus Saturday, women’s tennis was ready to make up for the loss of the day before and played its hardest, winning by the three points it needed to compete for the No. 4 position in the Northwest Conference.
“I knew it was going to be a close match,” said sophomore Gretchen Jernstedt, who won her singles match on Saturday. “I tried not to think too much while I was playing because putting more pressure on myself might have affected how I was playing.”
The team, which was down 2-1 after the doubles matches, did not let the score discourage it going into the singles matches, when Jernstedt, Watanabe, Nip, junior Caroline Brigham and senior Lexi Thomas all won against Pacific Lutheran.
“The bus ride back was really fun. It’s always good bonding with the team, and it was even better since we were excited that we accomplished our goal,” Jernstedt said.
Next up for the Wildcats is a home match against Willamette University on April 12.
“Right now we’re in the number four spot,” Krieger said. “We still haven’t played Willamette, but we’re excited and confident going into that match.”
Linfield played Willamette earlier this season, winning 7-2 against the Bearcats.
After the match against Willamette, the Northwest Conference Tournaments will begin the weekend of April 20 and 21, and they will continue the weekend of May 10 and 11.
Olivia Marovich/Staff writer
Olivia Marovich can be reached at [email protected].
