The Wildcats women’s tennis team started their season a little rough, but quickly picked up the slack and pushed their way to a 13-4 record.
After they started off losing two of their first three games, the team put in the extra hours necessary to go on a 10-match winning streak, proving to be almost unstoppable for the better part of the season.
However, while they did win their first game in the NWC championship, Whitman put an end to their season by defeating them 5-0 in the second game of the tournament in Walla Walla, Wash.
While the entire team was full of nothing less than winners, Mackenzie Frasier, Gretchen Jernstedt and Marisa Kume were on the top of the team, leading the Wildcats to a solid season finish.
“This season was great,” Jernstedt said. “We were very successful, achieved a lot of our goals both as individuals and as a team. We finished third in league and second in the conference tournament. We have great team chemistry, all put in a lot of hard work, and I can’t wait to see the improvements we can make next year.”
Fraser played the entire season without losing a match. Her personal season record was 13-0; showing that she was the person the team could rely on for the guaranteed win.
Not far behind Fraser was doubles pair Gretchen Jernstedt and Marisa Kume, finishing the season with an 11-3 record.
With a lot of the team retuning next year, and Frasier and Kume both being Freshman and having a lot of time left at Linfield, the seasons to come look very promising for the Linfield women’s tennis team.
“This season went really well and I know that we continued to improve throughout the season and we saw some great results at the end of our season,” Watanabe said.
This, along with first-year head coach Lisa Macy-Baker putting a year under her belt and getting a feel for how the team works, makes the future look like it will bring more and more wins for the Wildcats.
There is no doubt that these women are going to put in the extra hours over the summer and come back to show every one of their competitors that they are a force to be reckoned with. We should expect to see them right up on the top of the standing chart next year.
“It’s been a fun season making memories with my teammates and competing hard,” Jernstedt said. “We have two seniors who are graduating and we’re all sad to see them go, but I’m sure next year will be awesome as well.”
Drew Mahrt/For the Review
