Three Whitman Women in Tennis Singles

News Release Date:
Saturday, October 1

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Alyssa Roberg and sisters Morgan and Courtney Lawless stayed alive in the singles bracket, advancing through to the Sunday's Round of 16, as the USTA / ITA Pacific Northwest Fall Championships got underway Saturday in Salem, Ore. 

Roberg and Courtney Lawless, the No. 1 seeds in the doubles bracket, also won twice on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals.

Alyssa Roberg

Morgan Lawless and her doubles partner, Emily Rolston, added two more Whitman wins in doubles, defending their No. 6 seeding, in Saturday's play.

Roberg, a junior seeded No. 2 in the singles draw, opened with a 6-1, 6-1 romp past Makena McCluskey (Lewis & Clark) and dispatched Alyssa Emoto (George Fox) 6-0, 6-3.

Courtney Lawless

Courtney Lawless, a first-year player and the No. 5 seed in singles, blanked Ali Wittig (George Fox) 6-0, 6-0 in her opener before downing Jessi Steele (Whitworth) 6-2, 6-2.

Morgan Lawless also pitched a first-round, beating Cara Griffith (George Fox). She then advanced to Sunday with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Logan Thompson (Puget Sound).

Other Whitman winners in the opening round of singles were Rolston, who beat Marissa Friedman (Puget Sound) 6-4, 6-2, and sophomore Olivia Bates, who scrambled past Cora Wigen (Pacific Lutheran) 7-6, 0-6, 11-9.

Both fell in the second round, however. Rolston came up short 6-1, 6-3 against Kalia Nip (Linfield) while Bates lost 6-2, 6-2 to Rachel Mizuno (Pacific).

Morgan Lawless

Three Missionaries -- senior Lizzy Schiller and sophomores Hannah Palkowitz and Hadley Scherer -- dropped decisions in the opening round.

Palkowitz lost a tough one, falling 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 to Shaina Inn (George Fox). Scherer lost 6-4, 6-1 to Molly Beaumont (George Fox) while Schiller fell 6-3, 6-0 to Jill Coleman (Lewis & Clark).

Although doubles scores were not available, the Whitman duos of Roberg-Courtney Lawless and Rolston-Morgan Lawless advanced on Saturday with twoi wins apiece.

Schiller and Palkowitz lost their first-round doubles matches, as did of Whitman's first-year players, Erin Minuth and Maddy Webster. Minuth and Webster lost 8-2 to a seventh-seeded team from Whitworth.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu