Monday, 03/11/2013

LA VERNE, Calif. – With Kelly Watanabe (Soph., Kirkland, Wash.) supplying Linfield’s only point at No. 5 singles, the Wildcats saw their four-match win streak come to a sudden halt with an 8-1 loss to La Verne in women’s tennis action Saturday at the Claremont Club.

Watanabe extended her individual win streak to five with her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Allison Moncrief, but it was all Leopards the rest of the way.

La Verne (6-1), of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, swept all three doubles matches with relative ease to claim the early advantage.

Andrea Madrigal and Jeanette Losaria took care of Linfield’s top tandem of Gretchen Jernstedt (Soph., Wilsonville, Ore.) and Lexi Thomas (Sr., Redding, Calif.) by a score of 8-1. Moncrief and Laina Matsuda teamed for the 8-2 victory over Caroline Brigham (Jr., Eagle, Idaho) and Kwynn Ecton (Fr., Fort Collins, Colo.) at No. 2 doubles. Brooke Hines and Megan Soucy had the toughest battle on their hands in the third flight, but prevailed 8-5 against Watanabe and Kaila Nip (Soph., Lahaina, Hawaii).

Losaria opened singles play with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Brigham at No. 2 singles, and Madrigal followed up with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Thomas in the top flight. Hines turned away Ecton in the fourth flight by a count of 6-4, 6-3 and while Jernstedt challenged Shenelle Trujillo, the freshman Leopard outlasted her Wildcat counterpart for the 7-5, 6-4 victory.

After Watanabe’s victory at No. 5 singles, Matsuda ended the day on a high note for La Verne by earning the 6-4, 6-3 decision over Nip.

Linfield (4-5) remained winless against nonleague foes this second, including a pair of preseason losses to Portland State (Division I) and UC-Santa Cruz.

NEXT: The Wildcats face one of the nation’s top clubs Saturday afternoon, when they run up against No. 18 Sewanne on a neutral-court site in Claremont. Action gets underway at 10 a.m.