TACOMA, Wash. – Whitworth University is on the cusp of qualifying for the 2016 Northwest Conference women's tennis tournament after the visiting Pirates rolled to an 8-1 win at Pacific Lutheran on Saturday afternoon.

Whitworth has rallied to this point after beginning the season 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the NWC.  With today's win the Pirates are now 6-11 overall and 5-6 in the conference – tied for fourth place.  Whitworth needs to win at Puget Sound tomorrow and also needs Linfield to defeat George Fox to guarantee a playoff spot.

The Bucs swept the doubles matches for a quick 3-0 lead.  Bella Hoyos and Jennifer Adams defeated Caroline Dreher and Megan Beyers 8-2 at #1 doubles, while KC McConnell and Paige Rohrbach tied Emily Bower and Emily Beemsterboer 8-5 at #2 doubles.  The #3 team of Ashley Winslow and Emma Jo Wiley completed the sweep with an 8-4 win over Lilly Le and Ingrid Erickson.

PLU (5-9 overall, 4-7 NWC) came into today with its own chance at overtaking the Pirates in the standings.  The Lutes got their only point and pulled within 3-1 after McConnell retired at #4 singles with Beemsterboer leading 5-4 in the first set.

But Winslow rolled past Ericksen 6-1, 6-0 at #6 singles and Rohrbach swept Le 6-0, 6-3 at #5 singles to clinch the team win for the Pirates.

Whitworth ended up claiming the rest of the matches as well.  Wiley pulled out a close first set then pulled away over Beyers 7-6 (2), 6-2 at #2 singles.

Hoyos rallied from a set behind to defeat Dreher 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) at #1 singles.  Adams also pulled out a three-set win over Bower at #3 singles by a score of 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8).