Bearcats Are Ready for First Match of Conference Play

By Evan Giddings, Student Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's tennis team will travel to Portland, Ore., to take on Lewis & Clark College this Friday, Feb. 20, to get its first taste of Northwest Conference action. Match time is set for 4 p.m. (PST).

Last week in the Bearcats' spring opener, Willamette was defeated by College of Idaho, 6-3, but had impressive performances from Denise Poltavski (Sr., Woodland Hills, CA/El Camino Real HS) and Mikaila Smith (Fr., Mill Valley, CA/Tamalpais HS).

Individually, Poltavski won #1 singles and Smith took #2 singles, before both of them teamed up to capture a victory in the #1 doubles match. They won at #1 doubles by a score of 8-3.

For her efforts in both matches, Poltavaski was selected at the NWC Women's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week. Including her win on Friday, Poltavski now owns a career singles record of 35-12 during spring competition. Her doubles record is also impressive, now 14-2 over the last two spring seasons.

The next two spots for Willamette in the singles lineup will likely be filled by Ellen Rumley (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage HS) and Emily Guimont (Jr., El Dorado Hills, CA/Folsom HS). This past weekend, Rumley played #3 singles while Guimont played #4 singles. Together, they played #2 doubles against College of Idaho.

Katie Adams(Fr., McLean, VA/American International School) and Erin Tokutomi (Fr., Cupertino, CA/Homestead HS) filled out the #5 and #6 singles positions, while also playing at the #3 doubles spot.

Lewis & Clark will also be taking part in its first NWC match. The Pioneers are coming off two losses in the last two weeks. Both came by identical scores of 7-0 as the team took on NCAA Division I opponents Portland State University and University of Portland.

For the Pioneers, Aurora Garrison (Jr.) will likely play #1 singles after taking a year off and her sister Summer Garrison (Fr.) will play #2 singles. In 2013, Aurora Garrison finished with a 9-2 singles record in conference play and was selected First Team All-NWC.

Aurora Garrison will also play at #1 doubles and will be partnered with Wiktoria Plawska (Fr.). In 2013, Aurora Garrison garnered a 10-3 doubles record in NWC matches.