NEWBERG, Ore. -- The Bruins start their season with a narrow defeat to the College of Idaho, 4-3.

How It Happened
The Yotes opened up the match with the first doubles finish as the No. 3 doubles team of Audrey Gardner and Nicole Schnurbusch went serve for serve against the Yotes, taking them to 4-4 before the opposing team of Nicole Tran and Lina Boylan took control of the final two games to give them the 6-4 victory. However, despite losing the opening match, the Bruins were only getting started with a superb finish from the No. 1 doubles duo of Riley Bobkiewicz and Shanah Denham. The junior pair found themselves down 1-2 to open the match, but would only lose one game for the rest of the contest, downing the other side 6-3 to even the record for the day at 1-1. The last match featured the No. 2 combination of Sophie Denham and Juhree Kizziar. The clutch performers took College of Idaho to a comeback 6-6 tie before taking the tiebreak game 7-4 to give the Bruins the first point of the day.

Singles play began with Sh. Denham on court two, taking the lead early in the first set 4-2 before Lina Boylan of C of I mounted a comeback victory of 6-4. She tried to take control of the second set after leading 5-4, putting up a relentless effort, but ultimately fell 7-5. The following matches from Schnurbusch on court five and Kizziar ended in similar fashion, with Schnurbusch showing some essence of resurgence, taking the first set from 1-0 to winning three games to take the set to 5-3 before ultimately falling 6-3 and losing the second 6-2. Juhree managed to post two games of success against her opponent in both rounds, battling to the end of the 6-2, 6-2 losses.

With the Bruins losing the day at this point 3-1, trust was put in the upcoming contenders, starting with court No. 3. So. Denham put fans on edge of their seats after dropping the initial set 6-2, but this wouldn't be the end of the story. The senior then turned her momentum around, taking down her competitor 6-4 in set two and absolutely dominating the final set 6-0.

Bobkiewicz then stepped up on court No. 1 to keep hopes alive for the Bruins with a slugfest of serves, having the first set go to ten court-screeching games, claiming the first set 6-4 and repeating her methods in the second set, only losing during two of the ten games played, concluding the match in identical style with a 6-4 closeout.

With both teams at an even score of 3-3, it all came down to the sixth and final showdown of the day. Gardner put up a commendable performance for match number six, nearly bouncing back after coming up short in the first set 6-1, taking the second set from being down 1-4 to a sequence of 2-4, 2-5, 3-5 all the way to 4-5, until the dust settled with a 6-4 second set victory for the Yotes, giving them the win in a 4-3 finish.

All in all, this was a promising first match for Fox, testing the limits of each Bruin and giving them the experience needed to be ready for a strong Northwest Conference schedule.

Coach's Thoughts
"It was a good first match for us," said Bruins head coach Rick Cruz. "It would have been nice to pull out the win, but COI is solid all the way through, and I thought the girls did a great job of competing in every match. I'm excited to see how we bounce back tomorrow."

What Comes Next
The Bruins will travel to Portland to face off against the Lewis & Clark River Otters Saturday, February 7. The match is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.