PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Lewis & Clark Pioneers are the Northwest Conference champions after an 8-1 defeat of Linfield on Saturday at the L&C Tennis Dome.
The dual win completes a 12-0 season for the No. 18 Pioneers, and gives Lewis & Clark the right to host the NWC Championship on Apr. 23-24. The title is the first for the Pioneers since Lewis & Clark won nine straight Women's Conference of Independent Colleges titles from 1971-79.
Whitman, Linfield and Whitworth qualified as the last three seeds for the NWC Championship, which starts at 10 a.m. on Apr. 23.
"I'm especially excited for our seniors who are so influential in getting us where we are today," said Lewis & Clark head coach Patrick Dreves. "Aurora [Garrison] and Claudia [Lew] bought into what we're trying to do and our vision. Ultimately, they finish with a conference championship."
Lew finishes the regular season with a 13-3 singles record after defeating Marisa Kume, 6-3, 6-1, in the No. 5 match-up against the visiting Wildcats, which entered the dual ranked 35th in the country. Garrison beat Elsa Harris, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 2 pairing, giving her three straight singles wins and an 8-8 mark, mostly in the second spot all season.
Summer Garrison and Christine Eliazo completed one-loss seasons. Garrison (14-1), ranked seventh in the nation, beat No. 22 Ella Riddle, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 10-7, in the top singles pairing. The win improved Garrison to 2-0 this season after she defeated Riddle to advance to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships last fall. Riddle won both meetings during Garrison's freshman spring season.
Like Garrison, Eliazo has won five consecutive matches to improve to a team-best 16-1 this year. The sophomore All-American took down Basia Kopecka, 6-4, 6-1, in the No. 4 match.
Wiktoria Plawska (12-2) won 6-0, 6-3 over Marisa Doveri at No. 3, making her 10-2 this year in the third spot. Her doubles partner, Kacey Incerpi, won the No. 6 match-up, 6-0, 6-2, over Sierra Lemon.
"What is great about this team is our depth," said Dreves. "It makes the machine go and makes us as dangerous as we are. We are good 1-8, so we can sustain injuries and illness and continue without missing a step. That's the key to our success this year."
Lewis & Clark had a 2-1 lead after doubles play. In the top pairing, Riddle and Harris defeated Lew and Eliazo, 8-3, for Linfield's only win. The Pios won at No. 2 with an 8-5 victory by Plawska and Incerpi over Kopecka and Doveri. The Garrisons were 8-0 winners at No. 3 over Courtney Mostul and Lemon.
The NWC Championship is made up of the same teams as last year, although Lewis & Clark finishes ahead of Whitman for the top seed. Linfield and Whitworth are seeded third and fourth, respectively, for the second straight year.
"The conference continues to get better," said Dreves. "All the teams are tough and have great coaching."
Last year, Lewis & Clark defeated Linfield in the semifinals before losing in the title dual, 5-4, to Whitman.
This year's NWC Championship matches will be streamed on PioStream.
