Whit Women's Tennis Drops Tune-Up to NAIA Warriors
News Release Date:
Sunday, February 12
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- A young Whitman College women's tennis team tuned up for the start of Northwest Conference play with a 7-2 loss to Lewis-Clark State Sunday afternoon in Lewiston, Idaho.
Senior Lizzy Schiller had a hand in both team points for the Missionaries.
She rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Florencia Martina at No. 6 singles and teamed with sophomore Hannah Palkowitz for an 8-6 victory over Martina and Samantha Teigen at No. 3 doubles.
"It was a terrific day for Lizzy, but I thought everyone else competed really well," Whitman coach John Hein said. "We're right on track to where I want us to be at this point in the season."
With its best player (junior Alyssa Roberg) not playing because of illness, Whitman had first-year players Courtney and Morgan Lawless at the top of its line-up in both singles and doubles.
Courtney Lawless played at No. 1 singles, falling 7-5, 6-2 to Dominika Jasova, a sophomore from Kosice, Slovakia. Her sister Morgan lost 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to Dorothy Chong, a junior from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
In the opening round of doubles, the Lawless sisters pushed Jasova and Chong to the brink before losing 9-7 in the No. 1 slot.
"Overall it was a great first match," Hein said. "Counting the exhibitions, we had all five first-year players get into a match. That was important before we head into conference play."
Junior Kate Kunkel-Patterson lost 6-2, 6-2 to Barb Sneckner at No. 3 singles while senior Emily Rolston fell by the same score to Teigen at No. 4. Palkowitz dropped a 6-1, 6-3 decision to Miranda Duggan at No. 5 singles.
Rolston and Kunkel-Patterson came up short just a bit short at No. 2 doubles, losing 8-5 to Sneckner and Duggan.
Maddy Webster, one of Whitman's first-year players, notched an 6-1, 6-1 exhibition singles victory over sophomore Netti Dayhuff.
Missionary rookies Sara Finkelman and Erin Minuth also lost exhibition matches in singles.
"Maddy had a very impressive win, and it was great to get Sara and Erin into matches against strong opponents," Hein said.
"I saw great things all through our singles line-up as we battled for every point. Our young as well as our experienced players gained confidence from this match and also know where they need to work to get ready for our next matches."
Webster and Minuth also played an exhibition doubles match, losing 8-3 to Dayhuff and Wold.
Whitman heads to western Oregon this weekend for a string of three matches, two of them Northwest Conference counters.
After playing Linfield at 10 a.m. Saturday in McMinnville, the Missionaries face California's University of La Verne at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Salem.
Whitman stays in Salem to play Willamette at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; firstname.lastname@example.org