April 19, 2008

Lutes Finished Fourth at Conference Tournament

Whitman 6, PLU 3

YAKIMA, Wash. - Pacific Lutheran came into the Northwest Conference women's tennis tournament as No. 6 seed and it left with a fourth-place finish after falling to Whitman, 6-3, on Saturday morning at Yakima Tennis Club.

The Lutes, who finished the season with a 10-12 overall record, upset No. 3 seed Lewis & Clark, 6-3, in Friday's opening round to move into a semifinal match against No. 2 seed Whitworth. The Lutes pushed the Pirates to the brink before falling, 5-4.

That set up this morning's contest against Whitman with third place on the line. The Missionaries got off to a quick start with wins in all three doubles matches, and after that the Lutes mustered a split in singles play. Winning their singles matches for PLU were Liz Currey (5-7, 6-0, 6-1 over Hadley DeBree), Emily Starr (7-5, 6-1 over Alex Robinson) and Esther Ham (6-2, 6-0 over Jacquie Frank).

Linfield won its seventh straight conference championship with a 5-4 win over Whitworth. Lewis & Clark defeated Willamette, 5-3, in the fifth-place match played Friday afternoon.

- PLU -