March 20, 2008

WOMEN’S TENNIS: Spring Break Trip Ahead for PLU

COMING UP: Pacific Lutheran at Redlands, Saturday, 11 a.m.; PLU at Whittier, Monday, 2 p.m.; PLU at Vanguard, Tuesday, 3 p.m.; PLU at Cal Lutheran, Wednesday, 2 p.m.

CALIFORNIA BOUND: The PLU women's tennis team heads to California during spring break to play four matches, two against nationally ranked opponents. The Lutes open their road trip against the University of Redlands, the No. 10-ranked Division III team in the country, on Saturday. They return to the court against Whittier on Monday. The trip concludes with matches against Vanguard on Tuesday and against Cal Lutheran on Wednesday. All but Vanguard, which is the No. 4-ranked NAIA team, are NCAA Division III member schools that compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

LUTES TO PLAY FORMER PLU COACH: Mike Benson, who led Pacific Lutheran men’s teams to 24 conference titles in 30 years and five PLU women’s teams to Northwest Conference crowns in six years, is the first-year women’s tennis head coach at Cal Lutheran. He and his wife, Mary, moved to Southern California after he retired from PLU in 1999 in order to be closer to their youngest daughter, Kaarin, who at the time played for the Cal Lutheran women’s tennis team. Benson had been an assistant coach at Cal Lutheran in recent years and this year took over the CLU women’s program. Benson has led his team to a 3-8 record thus far, with its next match coming against Pacific Lutheran. Though the 3-8 record is hardly Benson-like, this is a Cal Lutheran program that finished 3-17 last year. Of the 10 players on the Cal Lutheran roster, eight are freshmen.

LAST WEEK: Pacific Lutheran battled two conference opponents to the final point last weekend before dropping 5-4 decisions to Willamette and Lewis & Clark. The No. 1 singles match went three sets before PLU's Erika Feltus outlasted Tiffany Kam from Willamette, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1. Feltus teamed with Ashley Coats for PLU's only win in doubles, an 8-3 triumph at the No. 2 position. The Lutes' other singles victories came from Liz Currey at No. 2 where she won 6-2, 6-2, and from Emily Starr at No. 5, 6-2, 6-0. Against Lewis & Clark, the host Pioneers won two of the three doubles matches before the teams split the six singles matches. Feltus and Coats won a 9-8 tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles, and PLU singles winners were Coats at No. 3 (7-5, 6-2), Ashley Brooks at No. 4 (7-5, 6-2) and Starr at No. 5 (6-2, 6-1).

SHE’S A STARR: Emily Starr, a freshman out of Snohomish High School, has compiled a perfect 7-0 singles record this season. All of her matches have come at the No. 5 slot.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS: Six-time defending champion Linfield leads the nine-team Northwest Conference standings with a 9-0 record, followed by Whitworth at 9-1. Lewis & Clark is 8-2, Whitman 7-3, Willamette 4-5 and Pacific Lutheran 4-6 to round out the top six teams.

- PLU -