SALEM, Ore. – Two teams going in opposite directions closed out their 2012-13 seasons here Saturday afternoon at The Courthouse Tennis Center as the visiting George Fox University Bruins won their second in a row with a 5-4 victory over the Willamette University Bearcats, who lost their eighth straight, in a Northwest Conference women's tennis match. 

The Bruins got off to a good start by taking two of the three doubles matches.  At No. 1, the George Fox team of Molly Beaumont and Shaina Inn improved to 13-5 with an 8-5 win over Willamette's Denise Poltavski and Sabrina Gutierrez, while at No. 3, Krista Rey and Ali Diehl triumphed over Emily Guimont and Mandy Carlson 8-2.  The Bearcats got an 8-3 win at No. 2 as Stephanie Matsuura and Rachel Heringer downed Chantelle Hadeed and Bethany Nguyen.

Poltavski and Gutierrez put the Bearcats in front with wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles respectively.  Poltavski was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Beaumont, and Gutierrez handled Hadeed 6-1, 6-0.  The home team was able to get only one of the final four matches, however, Heringer topping Rey 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 4, and the Bruins escaped with the win.

Inn gave the Bruins a 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 victory at No. 3 as she defeated Matsuura.  The Bruins' Alissandra Wittrig took a 6-7 (11-13), 6-4, 6-0 win at No.5 over Yasmine Genena, and Nguyen won a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 decision over Guimont at No. 6.

George Fox ended its season with a 7-11 overall record and finished seventh in the conference at 4-8.  Willamette is done with a 1-15 overall mark and an eighth-place finish in the NWC at 1-11.