Women’s tennis falls just shy of 2nd place; splits weekend games

The Pioneer women nearly claimed second place in the Northwest Conference this past weekend, defeating the Lutes 5-4 but falling to Whitworth, 7-2. On Saturday, Amalia Nilsson (’11) kept perfect on the season, defeating Erika Feltus in consecutive matches 6-3 and 6-1. Lisa Harunaga (’10) improved to 8-3 in singles, also beating her opponent in just two matches.

The Pios split the single competitions with the Lutes, but won two of three doubles competitions to win Saturday’s games.

Nilsson and #1 doubles partner Whitney Debree (’11) took a crucial competition after the #2 doubles suffered a narrow loss. Paige Earhart (’11) and Teresa Kiemnec (’10) won #3 doubles, decisively beating their opponents 8-4.

On Sunday, the Pios never quite found their stride. Nilsson stayed perfect, handily beating Whitworth’s #1, Rachel Burns, while also winning the #1 doubles with partner Debree. Other than Nilsson’s efforts, it was all Pirates. Harunaga nearly defeated her #2 opponent, but fell 7-6 in the final match. Maggie Peach (’10) also nearly gained a victory for the Pioneer women—taking her singles competition to the third match—but lost 10-4.

Although the Pirates won overall 7-2, the competitions were far from being blowouts. Had the Pios managed to win a few key sets in their singles competitions, they might be in 2nd place right now. As it is, the Pioneer women are in 3rd with an impressive 8-2 record. Whitworth improved to 8-1 in the Northwest Conference. The Women’s next opponents will be Pacific on March 28, whom they previously defeated 7-2 in February. The games will start at 4 p.m. at Pacific.