by Corina Gebbers
The Whitworth women’s tennis team kicked off its season on Feb. 19, splitting in matches versus the College of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College.
The Pirates swept the College of Idaho 9-0 in their first match of the day. At No. 1 doubles, senior Alli Marshall and senior Erica Bosman won their match 8-3. Senior Claire Hemming and freshman Saryn Mooney claimed an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles while senior Siri Carlson and freshman Morgan McDivitt had an 8-0 win at No. 1 doubles.
Marshall and Bosman also competed in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches respectively. Marshall won her match 6-2, 6-1 while Bosman had a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Junior Megan Wingfield finished with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles and junior Jessi Steele rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win. At No. 5 and No. 6 matches, Carlson and Hemming both swept their opponents 6-0, 6-0.
“These were our first matches of the season and we were going against teams who had played already,” assistant coach Colin Storms said. “We got to see what we need to work on.”
Later in the afternoon Whitworth faced Lewis-Clark State College, falling to the Warriors 8-1.
Wingfield and Hemming earned the lone point for the Pirates, defeating their opponents 8-5 at No. 3 doubles. At No. 2 doubles, Mooney and Steele came up short 8-4 and Marshall and Bosman fell 8-3 at No. 1 doubles.
In singles action, the Pirates played the Warriors close as Mooney and Steele competed through three sets at No. 3 singles and No. 5 singles respectively. Mooney was defeated 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 and Steele lost 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-8). Bosman began a close contest at No. 2 singles but an injury ended her match early. Wingfield lost 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4 singles, while Marshall fell short 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 1 singles match.
“We were pretty pleased over all,” Storms said. “Next week we start conference matches, so it’s good to get a few matches in before then.”
Whitworth will open conference play in Tacoma on Feb. 24 and 25 against the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University.
Corina Gebbers can be contacted at cgebbers15@my.whitworth.edu