McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Whitworth's Gracie Smyley rallied from down a set to win her match at #3 singles and clinch a 5-3 Northwest Conference women's semifinal win over Whitman College on Saturday afternoon at Linfield College.

The Pirates (9-7) move on the play host Linfield (13-2) in Sunday's championship match.  The Blues (13-6) were missing key players in the lineup due to COVID-19 protocols and now must wait for a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Whitworth is in the championship match at Linfield for the second straight season.

The Pirates took a 2-1 lead after doubles.  Jill Hughes and Grace Bethards ran away with an 8-0 win over Piper Rylander and Zoe Zapf at #3, in a set that took only 36 minutes.  The other two sets finished almost simultaneously.  Smyley and Kyndal Locati got by Elisabeth Carter and Mae Thorp 8-5 at #2, but Aleah Kert and Hannah Plank fell 8-4 to Whitman's Arianna Castellanos Calderon and Camilla Tarpey-Schwed at #1 doubles.

The Blues got two quick results to take a 3-2 lead early in singles.  Castellanos Calderon beat Kert 6-0, 6-1 at #1 singles and Tarpey-Schwed defeated Plank 6-1, 6-0 at #2 singles.

Bethards tied the match for the Pirates with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Zapf at #6 singles and Locati gave Whitworth a 4-3 lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Rylander at #4 singles.

That left Smyley and Hughes still playing for Whitworth.  Hughes jumped out to a 6-0, 5-2 lead before Carter rallied to win the second set 7-5.

But Smyley was able to pull out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Thorp to clinch the team victory.  The final set was tied 4-4 before Smyley won the final two games to clinch the team victory.

Hughes led 4-3 in the third set when the team score was settled and her match went unfinished.