BEAVERTON, Ore. - Keeping half
a step behind league-leading Whitworth University in the Northwest
Conference women's tennis race, the Linfield College Wildcats
breezed past the short-handed George Fox University Bruins 9-0 in a
match that, for a second straight day, was moved here to the
Tualatin Hills Tennis Center due to wet courts at George Fox.
Linfield, ranked ninth in the NCAA Division III West Region, is
now 10-4 overall and 8-1 in the NWC, trailing Whitworth (12-2, NWC
8-0), which won at Pacific University 7-2 Saturday. George
Fox slipped to 4-10 overall and 1-7 in the conference.
The Bruins, who have only six players on their roster for the
spring, were without the services of Bethany Nguyen, their usual
No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles player. She had been involved
in a car accident on Friday and managed to tough it out through a
match against Whitworth that night, but was far too sore to compete
Saturday, leaving the Bruins no choice but to default one singles
and one doubles match to the Wildcats.
In the doubles that were played, Linfield's Abby Olbrich
and Sarah Click defeated Molly Beaumont and Cara Griffith of George
Fox 8-1 at No. 1, and Sophie Larson and Caroline Brigham subdued
Alyssa Emoto and Shaina Inn 8-5 at No. 2.
In singles, it was Olbrich over Beaumont 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1;
Larson over Emoto 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2; Lexi Thomas over Inn 6-0, 6-3
at No. 3; Brigham over Griffith 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4; and Sarah
Peterson over Liliya Abildayeva 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5.
NEXT: George Fox next visits Lewis & Clark
College Saturday at 1:00 p.m., although there is a possibility that
the same two teams may try to meet earlier in the week to make up a
match that was rained out in Newberg on March 12 ... Linfield hosts
Pacific Lutheran University Sunday at 12:00 noon.
