BEAVERTON, Ore. --- George Fox University's women's tennis team split its first two matches of the 2015 season Saturday afternoon, as the Bruins defeated College of Idaho 8-1 and fell to No. 15 La Verne 8-1.

The Bruins started their day against College of Idaho in the morning match using an impressive doubles victory to propel a dominant performance in singles. Krista Rey and Ali Diehl came back from a 0-5 deficit to win their doubles match, which gave the Bruins some excellent momentum going into singles.

It was an eventful match for the Bruins, as they won all five single matches in straight sets and three Bruins picked up their first wins as collegiate athletes. Sarah Tuemmler beat Shae Stults (6-1, 6-1) at the #1 spot, while Andrea Motley beat Erin Huffman (6-1, 6-3) at the #5 spot. Catrina Kwong was the last Bruin to earn her first victory taking down Allie Boyd (6-2, 6-2) at the #4 spot.

"The ladies did a great job of sticking with the momentum built from doubles," said head coach Rick Cruz. "We had an overall great performance and I was really proud of how the team competed."

In the second match of the day, the Bruins faced the top-ranked Leopards, who gave the Bruins some problems. George Fox hung tough in doubles, and Rey and Diehl pulled out another victory, but that would be the only win against the top-ranked team.

"All three doubles teams showed some great potential against the Leopards," said Cruz. "If we keep improving, our doubles teams can be a huge part of our success moving forward. The effort was there in singles but the results weren't quite what we had hoped for. The good thing is everyone battled to the end, which is something we have focused on. Hopefully with a good week of practice we will be ready to compete against two very tough opponents in the Whits."

George Fox will take on Whitman on Feb. 21 and Whitworth on Feb. 22. Whitman is currently ranked at No. 29 in the nation, but fell to Whitworth, 7-2 this past weekend.