News Release Date:
Thursday, September 23, 2010
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- More than 60 NCAA Division III tennis players representing all nine Northwest Conference schools descend on Whitman College this weekend for the USTA/ITA Women's Pacific Northwest Fall Championships.
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The Whitman tournament, one of eight NCAA DIII regionals taking place around the country, starts Saturday and continues through singles and doubles championship matches on Monday.
Winners of the 64-player singles bracket and 32-team doubles bracket advance to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, slated for Oct. 14-17 in Mobile, Ala.
Saturday's action at Whitman gets underway at 8 a.m. with the first round of singles. Matches are set for both the Bratton Tennis Center and the four outdoor campus courts.
After a second round of singles is completed, one or two rounds of doubles will follow.
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| John Hein |
Consolation bracket matches are also planned for Saturday, although those matches will take place at the Walla Walla Country Club.
Another full day of tennis is planned for the Whitman campus on Sunday.
Women's tennis coach John Hein, the tournament director, hopes to have the championship brackets complete through the quarterfinals by Sunday evening. That will leave the semifinal and championship matches, singles and doubles, left for Monday.
Natalia Agarycheva, a senior at Willamette, is the No. 1 seed in the singles bracket. Abby Olbrich, a junior at Linfield is the No. 2, followed by Whitworth senior Rachel Burns at No. 3.
Two Whitman players, sophomore Alyssa Roberg and senior Elise Otto, are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively. The next three seeds, in order, are Whitworth junior Alli Marshall, Pacific junior Cat Goya and Linfield senior Sophie Larson.
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| Whitman's Elise Otto (left) and Alyssa Roberg |
In doubles, Otto and Roberg combine to give Whitman the top seed. Pacific has the No. 2 seed in Goya and junior Megan Yoshimoto.
The third seed in doubles, representing Linfield, are Olbrich and senior Sarah Click. Marshall and one of her Whitworth teammates, junior Erica Bosman, are the No. 4 seeds.
At last fall's Northwest tournament, hosted by Linfield in McMinnville, Ore., Olbrich beat Agarycheva in three sets for the singles title.
Olbrich also teamed with Sally Katter, who graduated last spring, to take the doubles title from Agarycheva and Shannon Palmer, who is on foreign study this fall.
Two years ago, when the tournament was hosted by Willamette, Otto beat Palmer in straight sets for the singles title and then teamed with Katie Oost, who now serves as Whitman's assistant coach, to subdue Goya and Yoshimoto in the doubles final.
For match scores as the tournament progresses, please check the bracket links on this webpage.
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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu
