WOMEN’S TENNIS: Three in a Row at Home for the Lutes

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Pacific, Friday, 3:30 p.m.; PLU hosts Lewis & Clark, Saturday, Noon; PLU hosts Alumni, Sunday, 11 a.m.

THREE AT HOME: Pacific Lutheran returns to the home court for a trio of matches this weekend, but only two of the matches will count. The Lutes will go head-to-head with Pacific on Friday afternoon, then take on Lewis & Clark on Saturday at noon. Both are Northwest Conference competitions. The Sunday event is the non-counter – the Lutes will welcome the PLU women’s tennis alumni in a competition set for an 11 a.m. start.

CONFERENCE NOTES: The Lutes, 5-3 overall and also in the conference, currently hold down fourth place in the NWC. Linfield, the five-time defending conference champion, is unbeaten with a 7-0 NWC mark. Puget Sound is 7-1 this year, followed by Whitman at 6-2 and the Lutes at 5-3. PLU’s weekend opponents are back a ways – Lewis & Clark is 3-5 and in sixth place, while Pacific brings up the rear with an 0-8 conference slate.

LUTES WHIP GEORGE FOX: In a Conference match moved indoors because of inclement weather, the visiting Lutes swept the George Fox Bruins, 9-0, last Saturday afternoon at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Beaverton, Ore. In the match-opening doubles, Pacific Lutheran’s Erika Feltus and Nicole Petrzelka improved to 6-0 by downing George Fox’s Valerie Ring and Alayna Shaw, 8-4. Megan Proffitt and Ashley Coats dropped Lindsay Hagler and Linsey Wages, 8-3, and Bria Smith and Roz Currie knocked off Brittany Ekstrom and Leilani Jackson, 8-2. The Lutes swept the singles in straight sets as Feltus improved to 7-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Hagler at No. 1. Petrzelka defeated Ring 6-2, 6-2, Smith dropped Rebecca Crinnion 6-1, 6-2, Coats turned away Jackson 6-3, 6-4, Currie conquered Ekstrom 6-1, 6-0, and Tracy Fujitani closed out the match with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Shanna Lesire.

LINFIELD HANDS LUTES A LOSS: The Lutes didn’t have the same success on Sunday, losing a 7-2 decision to Linfield. The two wins the Lutes picked up both came in the singles matches. Nicole Petrzelka defeated Megan Rodgers, 1-6, 6-1, (10-6), and Tracy Fujitani picked up the other win by beating Jeanna Parks, 6-2, 6-4. Roz Currie lost a hard-fought match against Linfield's Molly Nelson. Nelson won the first set 7-6 (5), and Currie battled back and won the second set 7-5. The tiebreaker was more of a heartbreaker as Currie lost by the closest of margins, 11-9. Erika Feltus lost in both singles and doubles for the first time this season.

FUJITANI IS HM SELECTION: Senior Tracy Fujitani, who won both of her singles matches last week, made the honorable mention list for NWC Player of the Week.

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