Finishing Strong

Hello Whitman Sportsfans,

As the close to our regular season we drew two exciting home matches for our Family/Alumni weekend and Seniors final home matches. Before I get into the tennis I would love to acknowledge the love and support of this extended family that this weekend included not only the team and our wonderful campus community but many of you who traveled to Walla Walla.

Yesterday we defeated Lewis and Clark (OR) by a count of 6-3 with the entire DeBree family watching their daughters battle it out in doubles (Hadley and Div getting the W)and only an injury to top Pio Amalia Nilsson kept them apart in singles. But the DeBree's weren't alone with many of our team being cheered on by parents, siblings and fellow Whitties (thanks SAAC for bribing so many students to the courts with Otter Pops).

After the match, we adjourned across the street to Baker Faculty Center, a wonderful old house on campus used for events and receptions. There we enjoyed hanging out, refueling and celebrating the great (and extremely crazy and funny) years of Hadley and Div. One of the hardest jobs I've had this year has been trying not to think of them being gone. It is amazing how attached you get to players and these two, in Zoe's words, have been the heart and soul of this team.

The most fitting way to honor them, besides having a great time and showering them with gifts, was to come out today and earn third place in what has become a much deeper and stronger conference than even a year ago. Standing in our way were the Bearcats of Willamette. Again, anchored by our seniors, we got a 2-1 lead after doubles and again Div was focused from the start to notch her 129th win for Whitman with a 6-0.6-0 victory. Elise followed with a great 2 and 2 win to put us up 4-1. Alyssa, playing the Northwest's top singles player, showed that she belongs right at the top as well playing some beautiful tennis in a losing effort that closed the gap to 4-2. It was fitting that the match was decided by Hadley as she pulled out a straight set win.

Kate was off quickly to extend the lead and Emily gave the fans a final thrill with a 10-7 match tiebreak win. This is the time of year when you want to be playing your best and this weekend was fun and we improved our team score over both of these tough opponents.

As the 3 seed at conference, this Friday in Yakima, WA we will play #6 Pacific at 8am, with the winner to play Linfield in the semi's in the afternoon. There is a W Club event Saturday evening at the conclusion of the tournament which should be a lot of fun as they've done tailgates at basketball and soccer and now its Tennis time!

Hope to see you in Yakima,

John