NEWBERG, Ore. - Beginning the final weekend of the regular season against the No. 8-ranked team in the NCAA Division III West Region, the George Fox University Bruins dropped a hard-fought 6-2 decision to the Whitman College Missionaries in a Northwest Conference women's tennis match Friday afternoon here at the GFU campus courts.

Whitman took control of the match early by winning all three doubles, each by 8-4 scores.  Courtney Lawless and Alyssa Roberg defeated the Bruins' Molly Beaumont and Shaina Inn at No. 1, Erin Minuth and Morgan Lawless downed Alyssa Emoto and Cara Griffith at No. 2, and Kate Kunkel-Patterson and Maggie Eismeier topped Bethany Nguyen and Marissa Chau at No. 3.

The Missionaries captured the top three singles to take the match, but the lower half of the Bruins' order came through to make the final outcome more competitive.  Whitman's wins came as Roberg rolled past Beaumont 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1, Courtney Lawless conquered Emoto 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2, and Morgan Lawless dropped Inn 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3.

George Fox picked up wins at No. 4 as Griffith knocked off Kunkel-Patterson 6-2, 6-2, and Alissandra Wittrig outlasted Hadley Scherer 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10) in a marathon at No. 6 that took two-and-a-half hours.  Wittrig and Scherer began their match at the same time as the doubles, and three of the singles matches finished before they did. At No. 5, the Bruins' Chantelle Hadeed won the first set 6-1 over Minuth, but was down 1-5 in the second when the contest was halted by rain.

NEXT: George Fox (7-10, NWC 2-8) hosts Whitworth University, ranked No. 10 in the West, Saturday at 10:00 a.m. ... Whitman (14-4, NWC 9-2) visits Lewis & Clark College Saturday, also at 10:00 a.m.