TACOMA – The Pacific Lutheran women's tennis team opened the 2015 spring season Saturday afternoon falling to Linfield 9-0 in a Northwest Conference match at Sprinker Recreation Center.

PLU falls to 0-1 to open the year, while Linfield improves to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Lutes host Lewis & Clark Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Sprinker.

Linfield swept the doubles round, with the number three matchup proving closest. Nip Kaila and Kelly Watanabe defeated Emily Bower and Emily Beemsterboer 8-5 in the third match, while Ella Riddle and Mackenzie Fraser defeated Samantha Lund and Caroline Dreher 8-3 at number one and Basia Kopecka and Courtney Hammagren took down Allison McClure and Megan Beyers 8-2 at number two.

The Wildcats continued their strong play in the singles round. Making her PLU debut, Dreher put up the best fight of the day for the Lutes by winning the first set 7-5 against Riddle at number one. Riddle came back to win the second set 6-3 before claiming the tiebreaker 10-7.

Basia defeated McClure 6-4, 6-3 in the number two matchup, while Nip defeated Lund 6-3, 6-1 at number three. Doveri won the fourth matchup against Beyers 6-2, 6-2, and Kume defeated Bower 6-3, 6-1. In the final singles match, Hammagren won the first set 6-0 before Beemsterboer pushed the second to 7-5.