PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Lewis & Clark Pioneers are the 2016 Northwest Conference women's tennis champions after a 5-2 win over No. 35 Whitman on Sunday afternoon at the L&C Tennis Dome.
Seniors Aurora Garrison and Claudia Lew played simultaneous match points on adjacent courts, with Garrison landing her third-set winner moments before Lew would have wrapped up her straight sets victory. Regardless, the match win resulted in the clinching team point for the No. 18 Pios, who advance to the NCAA Team Championship. The conference title is the first for Lewis & Clark since 1979 and ended a run of five straight NWC tournament wins for Whitman (14-10).
In No. 2 position, Garrison won 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 over Mary Hill, while Lew went up against Lindsey Brodeck at No. 5 and led 6-3, 5-4 before the Pios clinched the team win.
"We were competing with each other," said Garrison about Lew and her. "My match was very tiring. Really mental. Luckily, I was just trying to keep my head clear and it worked."
"As soon as it was 5-3, I was getting really excited," said Lew. "Then [Brodeck] won the game, but I clinched it in the end."
The Pios led 2-1 after doubles with Christine Eliazo and Lew winning in the top match, 8-4, against Hanna Greenberg and Hill. Kacey Incerpi and Wiktoria Plawska won in No. 2 position, 8-2, over Jenna Dobrin and Cello Lockwood. Whitman's duo of Allie Wallin and Brodeck beat Summer Garrison and Aurora Garrison, 8-4, at No. 3.
Plawska was the first singles player to win for the Pioneers. In the third position, she won 6-2, 6-0 over Lockwood. Summer Garrison played the top match and beat Dorbin, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3. Garrison, who is ranked seventh in the country and won NWC Player of the Year, didn't compete in Saturday's semifinals against Whitworth.
"How exciting for them to finish it with our seniors and Aurora clinching the match for us," said Lewis & Clark head coach Patrick Dreves, who earlier in the week was named NWC Coach of the Year. "Being up 4-2 with both of them on the court, I felt really confident."
In the third set of Aurora Garrison's match, she trailed 4-3 and 5-4, but tied it each time. Meanwhile, Lew nearly went up 4-1 before Brodeck tied it at 3-3. Lew won three of the next four sets.
Eliazo lost her No. 4 singles match, 7-6 (6-2), 6-4, to Wallin, while Incerpi trailed at No. 6 before the team title was clinched.
Lewis & Clark is 18-2 overall this season, which includes a 12-0 regular season record within the conference.
"It's been our goal since the beginning and it's a good way to end it," said Lew.
"All the hard work that the players have put in - in the classroom and the weight room and the early morning workouts - it all paid off today with a title that those women deserve," said Dreves. "They've been working at it since they were little kids."
Dreves says the team will take a little time off before resuming practice. Selection of the teams for the NCAA Championship will be announced on May 9. There is also an indvidual tournament, which Summer Garrison qualified for last year, and the announcement of the field for it is on May 11. The final site tournament will be held May 23-28 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
