Willamette Women's Tennis Team Qualifies for NWC Tournament

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's tennis team has qualified for one of four berths in the 2012 Northwest Conference Tournament, set for Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22 in McMinnville, Ore. Also qualifying for the tournament were Linfield College, Whitman College and Whitworth University.

The nine NWC women's tennis teams played a 1 1/2 round robin schedule during the regular season, with each team playing four teams once and the other four teams twice. To determine NWC Tournament qualification, one point was available against each opponent.

When teams played once, the winner received the point. When teams played twice, if one team won both meetings, it received the point. If the teams split the two matches, the point went to the team that won the most singles and doubles matches in head-to-head play. If that was tied, the point went to the team losing the fewest sets in head-to-head play.

Linfield finished the season with 8 points by winning all of its NWC matches. Whitman finished with 7 points, while Whitworth earned 6 points. Willamette and the University of Puget Sound each finished with 4 points, but Willamette won the tie-breaker by defeating Puget Sound head-to-head in the teams' only meeting, 5-4.

Pairings for the semifinals will match #1-seed Linfield against #4-seed Willamette at 10 a.m. (PDT) on Saturday and #2-seed Whitman against #3 seed Whitworth at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The semifinal winners will meet in the final match on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Entering the tournament, Linfield owns a 12-4 overall record. Whitman is 15-4, Whitworth is 13-5 and Willamette is 7-9.

The NWC Tournament is used to determine which team will receive the conference's automatic berth into the 2012 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.