McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Pacific Lutheran ended more than two seasons of frustration on Friday afternoon, defeating regionally ranked Linfield, 5-4, in a stunning Northwest Conference women's tennis upset at the Linfield Tennis Courts.
PLU came into the match carrying a 27-match Northwest Conference losing streak that dated back to April 2010. And there didn't seem to be any reason to think that the Lutes would end their streak against Linfield, a program that has won eight out of the last 11 Northwest Conference regular season championships, including last year when it finished with a 12-0 record.
But win the Lutes did, and it started with a sweep of the three doubles points. Newcomers Samantha Lund and Payton McGriff got the Lutes going with an 8-4 win over Lexi Thomas and Caroline Brigham at No. 1, and senior Tina Aarsvold and junior Leah Newell followed with the same result over Kelly Watanabe and Kwynn Ecton at No. 2.
Perhaps the bigges win of the day came at No. 3 doubles where Allison McClure and Katherine Patton, PLU's best doubles team last year, started out this season with a thrilling 9-8 (4) tie-breaker victory over Gretchen Jernstedt and Emily Erbin.
Linfield got back into the match in singles play, winning four of the six matches. Brigham started it with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Newell at No. 2, but McClure took a 6-1, 6-1 win over Erbin at No. 6 to put the Lutes within one point of wrapping up the team victory.
The Wildcats, however, won the next three singles matches to tie it at 4-4. Those victories came from Ecton by a 6-4, 6-2 score over McGriff at No. 3, from Jernstedt by a 6-3, 6-2 margin over Catherine Miolla at No. 5, and from Thomas by a 6-4, 6-3 score over Lund at No. 1.
With the focus now on the remaining-and-deciding No. 4 singles match, Aarsvold, one of only two seniors on the team, pulled out a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory over Watanabe.
The Lutes, now 1-0 for the season, return to action tomorrow afternoon when they play against the Pacific Boxers.
Linfield came into the season with a regional ranking but will likely lose that distinction after opening the spring with four straight losses.
- PLU -
