Bearcats Defeat Bellevue College, 6-3, in Exhibition Match

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

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University defeat Bellevue College (Wash.), 6-3, in an exhibition women's tennis match on Saturday, March 17 at the Courthouse Tennis Center. Bellevue is a community college. The NCAA does not count results against two-year college opponents.

Bellevue won #1 doubles, but fell behind the Bearcats 2-1, as WU prevailed at #2 and #3 doubles.

In the top doubles match, Anissa Bryant-Swift and Amber Portka of BC outlasted Shannon Palmer (Sr., Salem, OR/Sprague HS) and Sabrina Gutierrez (Newbury Park, CA/Newbury Park HS) of Willamette, 8-5.

At #2 doubles, Denise Poltavski (Fr., Woodland Hills, CA/El Camino Real HS) teamed with Emily Bee (Sr., Portland, OR/Lincoln HS) for the Bearcats to defeat Martha Santos and Elynn Wu, 8-3. At #3 doubles, WU's Emily Funabiki (So., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS) and Hailey Arnold (Fr., Winnetka, IL/Lake Forest Academy) downed Jullie Le and Karanpreet Kaur, 8-3.

Bryant-Swift of Bellevue defeated Palmer at #1 singles, 6-0, 6-2, and Santos also won for the Bulldogs at #2 singles over Gutierrez, 6-1, 6-1. Willamette gained wins in all four of the remaining singles matches.

Poltavski achieved a 6-1, 6-0 win over Portka at #3 singles and Bee held off WU at #4 singles, 6-4, 6-3. Funabiki downed Le at #5 singles, 6-0, 6-1. Elise Derby (Fr., Oakdale, Ca/Oakdale HS) won #6 singles against Kaur, 6-0, 6-1.

Willamette's next mach is set for Monday, March 26 at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. The Bearcats will play a total of three matches in Texas, including a meeting with Trinity University in San Antonio on March 27 and a battle with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on March 28 in Belton, Texas.

Saturday, March 17

At Courthouse Tennis Center, Salem, Ore.
Willamette University 6, Bellevue College 3 (Exhibition)

Singles

#1 - Anissa Bryant-Swift (BC) defeated Shannon Palmer (WU), 6-0, 6-2
#2 - Martha Santos (BC) defeated Sabrina Gutierrez (WU), 6-1,6-1
#3 - Denise Poltavski (WU) defeated Amber Portka (BC), 6-1, 6-0
#4 - Emily Bee (WU) defeated Elynn WU (BC), 6-4, 6-3
#5 - Emily Funabiki (WU) defeated Jullie Le (BC), 6-0, 6-1
#6 - Elise Derby (WU) defeated Karanpreet Kaur (BC), 6-0, 6-1

Doubles
#1 - Bryant-Swift and Portka (BC) defeated Palmer and Gutierrez (WU), 8-5
#2 - Poltavski and Bee (WU) defeated Santos and WU (BC), 8-3
#3 - Funabiki and Hailey Arnold (WU) defeated Le and Kaur (BC), 8-3