SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates have earned a trip to Walla Walla to compete in the Northwest Conference Women's Tennis Tournament this weekend. The fourth seeded Pirates will take on top seeded Whitman on Friday, April 18^th at 10:00 am in the first seminal matchup.

The Bucs are making their fourth conference tournament appearance in the last five years. Check the women's tennis schedule for live updates on all the weekend's action.

The Pirates: Whitworth (10-9, 7-7 NWC) split a pair of road conference matches to close the regular season.

On Saturday, the Pirates had a chance to clinch the final NWC Tournament spot with a win over Lewis & Clark, but the Bucs could not close it out and fell 4-3. The doubles point went to Whitworth with a trio of 6-3 wins before two quick singles wins from Faith Kert and Paige Oliver. With a Pirate 3-0 match lead, the Pioneers grinded out four straight three-set singles wins to complete a comeback victory and jump one game ahead of Whitworth in the conference standings.

The Pirates responded with a dominant 7-0 sweep of Puget Sound on Sunday. Whitworth swept doubles and won each singles match in two sets. Gracie Smyley earned her 13^th singles win of the season and Kert won her 11^th match in the No. 2 position. Olivia Corbett cruised to a third straight victory while Jordan Turner-Esposito, Audrey Judson and Oliver each earned commanding wins.

Tournament Info: The 2025 Northwest Conference Women's Tennis Tournament will be hosted by Whitman and consists of the top four finishing teams in the regular season standings. Tournament action will begin on Friday, April 18^th with the semifinal round. Top-seeded Whitman will take on No. 4 seed Whitworth at 10:00 am. The second semifinal will begin no earlier than 2:00 pm and features No. 2 seed Pacific (Ore.) and No. 3 seed George Fox. The Championship match is scheduled for Saturday, April 19^th at 10:00 am.

The Opponent: Whitman secured the 2025 NWC regular season title and No. 1 seed in the NWC Tournament with a 13-1 conference record (20-3 overall). The Blues have played Whitworth in the tournament semifinals and secured the conference tournament title each of the last two seasons. Whitman is led by junior Teleya Blunt who has a 13-6 record in the No. 1 singles position this season. Senior Jha Ilina has a 14-3 record in the No. 2 position and competes alongside Blunt as the top doubles duo. The Blues defeated the Pirates in both matchups this season by a combined score of 12-2. 

The Other Side: The Pacific Boxers (13-5 overall) secured the No. 2 seed as a result of NWC tie-breaking procedures after tying George Fox with an 11-3 conference record. Pacific was defeated by Whitman 5-1 in the NWC Tournament finals last season. 2024 NWC Player of the Year Cassidy Binder leads the Boxers and carries an undefeated singles record into this weekend. Freshman Chloe Takahashi is Pacific's No. 2 singles player and pairs with Binder in the top doubles spot. The Boxers split the season series with George Fox with a score advantage of 8-6 in two matches. Pacific took down Whitworth twice this season by a combined score of 11-3.

George Fox, also finishing with an 11-3 conference record (15-7 overall) will match up with Pacific in the second semifinal match. The Bruins were defeated by Pacific in the conference tournament semifinals last season by a score of 5-4. Sophomore Riley Bobkiewicz, the 2024 NWC Rookie of the Year, leads GFU in the No. 1 singles position. Sophomore Shanah Denham often pairs with Bobkiewicz in the No. 1 doubles position while Kalli Wiker mixes in the top two spots for both singles and doubles. The Bruins split two matches against Pacific and outscored Whitworth 11-3 in two match wins this season.

The Coach: Rachel Aldridge is in her 11^th year as Whitworth's head women's tennis coach after serving as an assistant from 2012-2014. The Pirates have a dual record of 98-94 during her tenure, including a 62-46 mark in Northwest Conference matches. Aldridge was a four-year standout player at Whitworth and earned first-team All-NWC honors each of her four years. She was selected by conference coaches as the NWC Sportswomen of the Year in 2011 and named NWC Player of the Year in 2011.

Looking ahead: The winner of the NWC Tournament will claim the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament, which will take place on May 20^th-27^th in Claremont, California.