NEWBERG, Ore. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's tennis team competed in its lone tournament of the fall over the weekend, turning in a strong showing at the 2021 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northwest Regional hosted by George Fox University.

"I'm proud of how the student-athletes competed this weekend," said Head Coach Cheri Campbell. "We faced some tough opponents which can be a tough introduction to college tennis for first-years."
 
Meggie Burnett won her opening match in the singles main draw, breezing past Willamette University's Ruby Thompson, 6-0, 6-0, before stumbling to Pacific University's Cassidy Binder in the second round. 

"Meggie really demonstrated how much she has improved from last year."
 
Taylor Stokes and Jillian Chong dropped their opening match in the ITA main singles draw before finding success in the consolation bracket. Stokes downed Lewis & Clark College's Allison Gabelman 8-3 before falling 8-1 in the round of 16 to Whitworth University's Hannah Plank. Chong rolled Whitworth's Meredith Bedford 8-3 in the consolation draw opener but ended on the wrong side of the same score against Linfield University's Emma Tuttle in the second round.
 
In doubles, Stokes and Lilian Nguyen made their debut by grinding out an 8-7 (7-3) win over Pacific's Jessica Eligio and Bea Erica Rufo before coming up short 8-1 against the top-seeded Linfield duo of Tessa Kern and Lexie Matsunaga. 
 
Ella Burriss and Libertad Sarmiento bested Lewis & Clark's Hayley Kreps and Cassandra Harper 8-7 (9-7) in their doubles opener before coming up short, 8-1, against Whitman's Angel Le and Arianna Castellanos.

"The improvements the players showed from the first day of practice has me excited for the spring and our traditional season."
 
The four-day event closed the Lutes competitive fall season. PLU will resume its season on Jan. 31, heading down to Arizona to square off against Ottawa University in the first of three non-conference matches in the Copper State.