April 4, 2008

WOMEN’S TENNIS: Lutes Put Four-Match Win Streak on the Line

COMING UP: Pacific Lutheran (8-7 overall, 6-6 NWC) hosts Whitman (10-9 overall, 8-4 NWC), Friday, 8 p.m.; PLU hosts Whitworth (12-4 overall, 10-2 NWC), Saturday, 4 p.m. Because of rainy weather, both matches will be played at the UPS Tennis Pavilion.

LUTES HOST THE WHITS: Pacific Lutheran hosts the Whits in Northwest Conference tennis action this weekend. The Lutes battle the Whitman Missionaries at 8 p.m. Friday at the UPS Tennis Pavilion, then go up against the Whitworth Pirates at 4 p.m. Saturday, also at UPS. The matches were originally scheduled for different times at the PLU courts, but rainy spring weather seems to be a given around here, and now the match times and locations have been moved as a result.

ABOUT WHITMAN: The Missionaries come into today’s match with an 8-4 conference record and a 10-9 overall mark. In the first meeting between the teams played March 1 in Walla Walla, the host Missionaries beat the Lutes, 8-1. Ashley Coats had the Lutes’ only win at No. 3 singles, though Erika Feltus at No. 1 and Liz Currey at No. 2 both pushed their opponents to three sets before falling. Whitman currently sits in fourth place in the conference standings, one spot ahead of the Lutes, though they are up two matches.

ABOUT WHITWORTH: The match-up against Whitworth should be interesting because these teams battled it out on March 2 before the Pirates pulled out a close 5-4 decision in Spokane. The Lutes won two of the three doubles points, but the Pirates took four of the six singles matches. Erika Feltus and Rachel Burns went three sets at No. 1 singles before Burns pulled out the victory. Whitworth has a 10-2 conference record and is tied with Lewis & Clark for second place in the standings behind 11-0 Linfield.

SPRING BREAK HIGHLIGHTS: Pacific Lutheran won two of its three matches on the recently completed spring break trip, beating Whittier 9-0 and Cal Lutheran 8-1. PLU lost to nationally ranked Redlands, 9-0, to open the trip. In addition, PLU’s match against NAIA power Vanguard was canceled when one of the PLU players became ill, forcing a visit to a doctor that had to be scheduled when the match was to have been held.

LAST WEEK: The Lutes picked up a pair of Northwest Conference victories last week with a 6-3 win over George Fox and a 9-0 whitewashing of Puget Sound. Combined with wins its final two spring break matches, Pacific Lutheran has now won four straight matches. PLU parlayed its spring break momentum into a victory last Friday against the visiting Bruins. The Lutes started with wins from the doubles teams of Erika Feltus and Ashley Coats at No. 1 and Liz Currey and Ashley Brooks at No. 2. In singles play, the Lutes got wins from Feltus, Currey, Coats and Brooks at the top four spots, with all of the victories coming in straight sets. The following day, in a match played at the UPS Tennis Pavilion, the Lutes easily handled Puget Sound. Things got off to a great start as the Lutes lost just 10 total games in sweeping the doubles matches. Feltus and Coats improved their record at No. 1 doubles to 9-4 with an 8-4 win over Sam Taylor and Rochelle Hebert. Currey and Brooks won for the fourth time in six matches at No. 2 doubles, whipping Alissa Wolfe and Ashley Spencer by an 8-2 score. Emily Starr and Morgan Jones played together for the first time at No. 3 doubles and defeated Ashley Dombrow and Julie Simmons, 8-4. The Lutes swept the six singles matches without losing a set. The PLU winners were, in order, Feltus, Currey, Coats, Brooks, Esther Ham and Jones.

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