TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's tennis team is heading down to California for matchups against three out-of-state universities.
The Lutes (2-6, 0-4 Northwest Conference) will be tested first in Thousand Oaks, taking on a red hot California Lutheran University (5-1).. The Regals stumbled in their opening match against Westmont College, before collecting five straight wins.
PLU will then square off against Colby College (0-1) on Monday. Colby will be making the trip down from Waterville, Maine to play the Lutes at a neutral sight in Pasadena, California. The Lutes will then head to Whittier College to take on the Poets on Tuesday to wrap up the trip.
The Lutes are coming off a tough weekend against NWC rivals Linfield College and Willamette University. The conference leading Wildcats were able to sweep the Lutes. The team had a valiant effort against the Bearcats but came up just short 6-3.
Bayley Gochanour had an excellent performance, winning her singles match handily.
Kylie Rademacher was able to outlast her opponent in a singles match, prevailing on a third set tie-breaking match. Rademacher also paired up with
Lauren Kearney to win a doubles match.
Junior
Lauren Kearney, talked with us about the team's preparation for California.
"To prepare for California we have been practicing a lot outside instead of indoors, thanks to this warm weather. We also had our matches outside last weekend down in Oregon so we were able to get some match play in as well as learning really fast that sunscreen is going to be a necessity."
Kearney is studying Elementary Education and is also a member of the swim team. Now an upperclassman on the team, Kearney talked about her role.
"Our team does a great job of bringing energy onto the courts, and even though tennis is a pretty quiet sport, you can always hear our team supporting each other.My favorite part about traveling with the team is all the time we get to spend together while we make some great and some embarrassing new memories. "
The Lutes will pack their bags and fly to California. Their first matchup will take place on Sunday at 10 a.m.
