FOREST GROVE, Ore. – Visiting Whitworth nearly pulled off a stirring comeback, but fell just short in a 5-4 Northwest Conference women's tennis loss at Pacific (Ore.) on Friday evening.
The Pirates dropped to 7-9 overall and 5-6 in the NWC while the Boxers improved to 5-8, 3-7. Whitworth won the first meeting between the teams 8-1 on March 4th in Spokane.
Pacific took two of the three doubles matches to claim an early 2-1 lead. Jennifer Adams and Emma Jo Wiley got Whitworth their only doubles point with an 8-3 win at #2.
The Boxers extended their lead to 4-2 by winning two of the top three singles matches. Wiley won 7-6, 6-4 over Danielle du Plooy at #2 for the Pirates' second point.
In a match-up of 2016 All-NWC honorees, Pacific's Kaitlyn Lomartire topped Whitworth's Bella Hoyos 6-1, 6-4 at #1 singles, avenging a loss to Hoyos earlier this season.
Trailing 4-2 heading to the final three matches, the Pirates forged a 4-4 tie when Erica Lee won 7-5, 6-3 at #4 singles and Paige Rohrbach earned a 6-4, 6-0 win at #6 singles.
But Pacific's Marissa Hayashi came from behind to defeat Emily Sandquist 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 at #5 singles to give the Boxers the win.
Whitworth will conclude its season with a match at Linfield on Saturday.
