MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Whitworth University advanced to its first Northwest Conference women's tennis tournament championship match since 2011 with a 5-3 win over George Fox University in a semifinal match on Friday night at Linfield College.

The Pirates (11-5) advance to play the host Wildcats (12-2) in Saturday's championship match at noon.  GFU's season ends with a 9-3 record with two of those losses coming to Whitworth.

The Pirates took a 2-1 lead after doubles.  Avery Liening and Aleah Kert, who both earned All-NWC recognition earlier this week, teamed to beat Sophia Lawrence and Laney Search 8-0 at #1 doubles.  The Bruins tied the score when Oliva Morris and Ellie Mangan beat Whitworth's Froukje Lakerveld and Kyndal Locati 8-2 at #3.  Hannah Plank and Lauren Ikeda pulled out an 8-6 win over GFU's Taylor Morris and Danielle Brown at #2.

Kert quickly made it 3-1 in favor of Whitworth when she topped Search 6-0, 6-1 at #2 singles.  Brown pulled the Bruins within 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Plank at #3 singles, but Liening quickly finished out her match at #1 singles with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Lawrence.

Mangan beat Ikeda 6-1, 6-2 at #4 singles to get George Fox back within 4-3.  Lakerveld clinched the team win with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Morris at #6 singles.

The #5 singles match between Locati and the Bruins' Morris went unfinished.

Whitworth and Linfield split a pair of matches early this season in Spokane.  The Wildcats won the conference-counting match 8-1, but the Pirates took a non-conference contest 5-4 the next day.  That was Linfield's only loss to a Division III opponent this season.

Whitworth's last appearance in the NWC championship match came a decade ago when the Pirates hosted the tournament in 2011.  Whitworth lost to Whitman in the title match that season.