March 7, 2008

Defending Champion Linfield Puts Away PLU, 7-2

Linfield 7, PLU 2

Linfield College, which has won six straight Northwest Conference women’s tennis titles, showed that it has another strong team with a 7-2 victory over Pacific Lutheran in a conference match played Friday at Sprinker Recreation Center.

The win was Linfield’s seventh without a loss against conference foes, and the Wildcats are now 7-3 against all competition. PLU dropped its third straight match to fall to 3-4 overall and also in the conference standings.

The Wildcats started strong by sweeping the doubles competition. Kasey Kuenzli, the 2006 Northwest Conference Player of the Year, joined with Sophie Larson to beat Erika Feltus and Ashley Coats, 8-4, at No. 1 doubles. Kelli Sides and Molly Nelson beat Liz Currey and Emily Starr, 8-4, at No. 2, and Sarah Watanabe and Sarah Click blanked Ashley Brooks and Morgan Jones, 8-0, at No. 3.

Kuenzli and Feltus battled at No. 1 singles with the Linfield ace coming out on top, 6-3, 7-5. Other Linfield winners were Sides at No. 2, Nelson at No. 4 and Click at No. 6.

Pacific Lutheran picked up its two points at No. 3 singles where Coats beat Larson, 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5), and at No. 5 where Starr beat Watanabe, 6-4, 6-1.

PLU returns to action on Saturday, hosting the winless Pacific Boxers in two conference matches that are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. The teams were to play at PLU’s outdoor courts, but rainy weather could move the matches over to the UPS indoor courts.

- PLU -