TACOMA – Pacific Lutheran rallied during the singles round for a 5-4 cross-town rivalry win over Puget Sound in Northwest Conference women's tennis action Saturday afternoon at Sprinker Recreation Center.

PLU improved to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play with the win. All three doubles matches proved tight, with two going to extra points. Caroline Dreher and Megan Beyers fell 8-6 to Elizabeth Chao and Nicole Bouche in the first match, while Emily Bower and Emily Beemsterboer fell 9-7 to Claire Fitzgerald and Tressa Bild. Lilly Le and Ingrid Ericksen outlasted Mei Roen and Kyla Richards 9-8 (7-4) in the final doubles match to turn the momentum and set the Lutes up for a singles round run.

"The team fought hard for this win today," PLU head coach Lorrie Wood said. "Ingrid and Lilly at number three doubles played well to win a tiebreaker and earn our first point of the match. We had some pressure going into singles down 1-2, but the girls dug in and played hard."

Dreher topped the singles lineup with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Chao, while Bower downed Bild 6-4, 6-2 in the third match and Beemsterboer defeated Richards 7-5, 6-0 in the fourth match. Beyers fell to Bouche 6-4, 6-4 in the second match, and Le fell to Fitzgerald 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8), but Heidi Kim proved to be the difference for the Lutes with her first win of the year in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Roen.

"Caroline won fairly quickly at number one, and Heidi at number six won very decisively in her first varsity match of the season," Wood said. "Both Emily Bower and Emily Beemsterboer came from behind in their first sets to decisively win their second sets, and Megan and Lilly both played well but lost in very close matches."

The Lutes close out the weekend Sunday, as they take on College of Idaho at 10:30 a.m. at Sprinker Recreation Center.