By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University women's tennis team will host Pacific (Ore.) on Saturday (10:00am) and Willamette on Sunday (10:00am) at Scotford Tennis Center.
Check the women's tennis schedule for live updates on all the weekend's action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (0-2 overall, 0-1 NWC) comes into the weekend looking for its first win of the young season.
The Pirates fell 6-1 to Lewis-Clark St. College in Lewiston in their first match of the season on February 8th. The Warriors swept the doubles matches and won five of the singles matches in two sets. Senior Gracie Smyley earned the lone Pirate point with a 6-2, 6-3 win in the #2 singles match.
On Saturday, Whitman took down the Pirate women 6-1. Whitworth took the doubles point after winning the #1 and #2 matches, but the Blues won all six singles matches. Freshman Faith Kert and Gracie Smyley dominated with a 6-1 victory while Paige Oliver and Audrey Judson got it done 6-4 in the second pairing. Judson narrowly lost in a three-set tiebreaker 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (14-12) in the #5 singles match.
The Opponents: Pacific (2-0 NWC) is off to a strong start to its season after a 7-0 win over Puget Sound and 6-1 win over Lewis & Clark. Faither Kert will likely battle senior Cassidy Binder in the #1 singles match who was the 2024 NWC Player of the Year. Binder plays in the #1 doubles pairing with Stella Nishimura, who competes in the second singles match for the Boxers. Traci Binder is Pacific's head coach in her ninth year. The Pirates have won six of the last seven matches against the Boxers, the lone loss coming last season on March 17th (8-1).
Willamette (1-0 NWC) heads to Spokane after a narrow 4-3 defeat of Puget Sound on Sunday. Junior Alexa de Crinis is the #1 singles player for the Bearcats and pairs with graduate student Ruby Thompson as the first doubles team. Freshman Sophia Spencer earned a dominant win in #4 singles slot to start her season and junior Alicia Sola fought to a win as well in the #6 match. The Bearcats are coached by Samuel Fecteau and Tyler Linscott. Since 2012, Whitworth has won 16 straight matches against Willamette.
The Coach: Rachel Aldridge is in her 11th year as Whitworth's head women's tennis coach after serving as an assistant from 2012-2014. The Pirates have a dual record of 88-87 during her tenure, including a 55-40 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: Whitworth will travel to battle Linfield on March 1st and George Fox on March 2nd.
