by Nathan Webber
Senior tennis player Alli Marshall is on the verge of finishing a strong four year career at Whitworth. In her Whitworth career, Marshall has won three Northwest Conference Championships, been Second Team All-NWC once and First Team All-NWC twice. Currently, she is Whitworth’s No. 1 singles player and is part of the No. 1 doubles team.
Marshall has won at least 20 games in each of her four seasons on the team, the most coming in her freshman year when she won 29 games. Recently she won her 100th game as a Pirate after she and her doubles partner, senior Erica Bosman, beat George Fox’s No. 1 doubles team 8-4 last Saturday.
“She has been a really solid No. 1 for us,” head coach Jo Ann Wagstaff said. “She is a great example of a person that plays hard and never gives up on a point. She goes for every ball as hard as she can and it inspires the rest of the team to play hard.”
The senior from Salem, Ore., has been playing tennis since she was 8 years old and excelled at the sport at Sprague High School. Marshall wanted to continue playing tennis after high school, which led her to Whitworth.
“I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go but my sister, who’s a year older, went here [Whitworth] so I came to check out the campus,” Marshall said. “I loved it.”
Throughout her four years Marshall has made a lot of memories.
“Every Spring Break trip we went on was amazing,” Marshall said. “All the girls get along so well. We won conference and went to nationals in California my freshman year. It was also really fun to win conference three years in a row, too, it was wonderful.”
Marshall works hard on and off the court as she is double majoring in journalism and mass communication and kinesiology. She is currently planning on taking a year off after school is over to prepare for her Graduate Record Exam for graduate school.
“Since her freshman year she has worked really hard on becoming a more consistent and powerful player, and it’s paid off,” Wagstaff said.
That hard work has paid off on the court as Marshall currently leads the team in doubles wins and is third in the conference in singles win percentage as Whitworth’s No. 1 singles player.
“Her forehand is really great, definitely her best shot,” teammate Claire Hemming said.
Hemming, a fellow senior and roommate, had a lot of good things to say about Marshall when asked what she is like off the court.
“I have lived with Alli for a couple of years,” Hemming said. “She is very personable, always engaging people and making them feel good.”
Marshall is sitting at 21 wins so far this season and said she hopes to continue her streak on April 21 when the tennis team takes on Whitman in the first round of the Northwest Conference Tournament. The team, and Marshall, are striving for their third tournament championship in three years.
Contact Nathan Webber at nathanwebber13@my.whitworth.edu.