PARKLAND, Wash. – Led by Alyssa
Emoto's wins in both doubles and singles, the George
Fox University Bruins took a 3-1 lead over unbeaten Pacific
Lutheran University, but the Lutes recovered by taking the last
five singles for a 6-3 Northwest Conference women's tennis
win Saturday afternoon here at the Sprinker Recreation
Center's indoor courts.
PLU got out early with an 8-2 win at No. 1 singles, Leah Newell
and Samantha Lund prevailing over the Bruins' Taylor Barnes
and Chantelle Hadeed. George Fox took the next two matches,
however, Emoto and Krista Rey dealing PLU's Allison McClure
and Mariah Siemion an 8-6 setback, and Megan Dahlberg and Ali Diehl
continuing to be the Bruins' hottest doubles team with an 8-3
win over Megan Beyers and Emily Bower.
When Emoto cruised past Newell 6-4, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, the
Bruins were up 3-1 and appeared on their way to an upset.
“Alyssa had never beaten Leah before in the three or four
times they had met, so that was a significant win for her against a
good opponent,” said George Fox head coach Rick Cruz.
“We had the momentum, and had our chances with leads in
several of the remaining singles matches. Chantelle was up
5-4 in her second set, and I think Ali could have pulled out her
match if we had played out the third set instead of using a
tiebreaker, but they're good and we just couldn't quite
put them away. It was still a great effort by our whole
team.”
Hadeed wound up with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss at No. 2 to
Lund. The next three matches were all straight-set wins for
PLU, but the Bruins gave the Lutes a struggle in every one of
them. Beyers managed to defeat Barnes 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3,
McClure overcame Rey 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4, and Siemion edged Dahlberg
7-6 (7-3), 6-2 at No. 5. In the final match, Bower clipped
Diehl 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (10-4).
George Fox slipped to 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the
conference. Pacific Lutheran, which is ranked No. 17 in the
NCAA Division III West Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association, improved to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the NWC.
NEXT: George Fox hosts the College of Idaho in
a non-conference match Sunday that has been moved from the GFU
campus courts to the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Beaverton,
Ore., due to steady rain over the weekend in the area. The
scheduled start time is 10:00 a.m. … Pacific Lutheran hosts
Bellevue College of Washington Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in a
non-conference contest.
