Sports
February 26, 2010
www.linfieldreview.com
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Tennis splits matches Nic Miles Sports reporter
Duc Hoang/For the Review Junior Mark Magdaong unleashes a serve during the men’s 9-0 victory against the University of Puget Sound on Feb. 19. The following day, Linfield beat Lewis & Clark University at the Linfield Tennis Center. With the wins, the Wildcats improve to a 3-0 in Northwest Conference play and 3-1 overall.
The Wildcats played a bittersweet match against Lewis & Clark University on Feb. 20. On one of the first sunny days of the spring tennis season, the Wildcats hosted the Pioneers at the Linfield Tennis Center. The men’s team sent an early message by winning all three doubles matches in straight sets. It showed no signs of slowing down by winning all six singles matches, as well. The men’s team is ranked second in the Northwest Conference. Junior Mark Magdaong had a strong showing with a 6-4, 6-1 victory in singles and 8-1 win in doubles. “Doubles on Friday was very fundamental,” Magdaong said. “We didn’t let our opponents get any momentum to get into the match.” Magdaong has consistently been a prevailing athlete on the men’s team this season. “Last year, I had a really successful record, and that
definitely pushed me to become an even more competitive player,” he said. Although he seems to play equally well in singles and doubles matches, Magdaong said he enjoys playing doubles more. He said that he and his partner, junior Brent Kingzett, complement each other on the court and help each other out during matches. The rest of the men’s team also performed well. Senior powerhouse Kyle Anderson teamed with junior Tal DeWitt to bring home an 8-1 win at No. 2, and senior Matt Levering paired with freshman Zachery Lyons at No. 3 for an 8-3 win. Coach Carl Swanson is preparing his team to play well, both mentally and physically. Swanson said he believes that focus can help reel in the elusive conference championship. “This team is improving and playing at a higher level than we were last season,” he said. “This year’s team has huge upside if they continue to battle, work hard and play together and for
each other.” On the women’s side, the Wildcats faced their first loss this season. Beating the women’s team for the first time in nearly a decade, the Pioneers won 5-4 Feb. 20. Wildcat sophomore Abby Olbrich, the reigning ITA Pacific Northwest Region champion, was defeated by Pioneer junior Amalia Nilsson in a 6-4, 6-1 match at No. 1 singles. However, Linfield responded with three singles victories from senior Sallie Katter and juniors Sophie Larson and Sarah Click. Ranked first in conference, the Lewis & Clark women’s team bumped its record to 3-0. “The women are experienced and young,” Swanson said. “We need every player to work hard in practice, be ready to contribute in matches and to play for each other and make each other better.” The women’s team hits the road to take on No. 2 Whitworth University on Feb. 27, and the men’s team hosts Whitworth on the same date.
Women’s basketball shot down by Whitman, Whitworth Justin Derby Sports reporter The 2009-10 season ended on a sour note for the Linfield women’s basketball team. The Wildcats lost to Whitman College, 81-52, on Feb. 19, and to Whitworth University, 65-56, on Feb. 20. The Wildcats ended the season with a 4-12 league mark and 6-19 overall. The overall record was a threegame improvement of the previous season’s record. “I told the girls that last season was over and that their focus should be on
improving every day,” head coach Casey Kushiyama said. “If they could focus on improving a little bit every day, we would see an incredible amount of improvement at the end of the season, and I think that’s what happened.” Putting the ball in the hole was a problem that plagued the Wildcats in both games. “It was a difficult weekend when it came to scoring,” sophomore forward Lindsey Gummersall said. “Unfortunately, we could not hit a lot of the shots that we normal-
ly do. This happens every once in a while, and we got unlucky with this occurring two nights in a row.” Linfield began strong against Whitman, leading the Missionaries 14-11 with 13 minutes, 22 seconds to go in the first half. The Missionaries then went on an 18-0 run to go up 29-14 with 5:06 left in the first half. Whitman proceeded to take a 41-23 lead into halftime before coasting to its 81-52 win. Sophomore guard Gretchen Owens led the Wildcats in scoring with 20 points. “Whitman’s 18-0 run
was a direct result of their defense,” Kushiyama said. “They did a great job of making us take tough shots and took us out of what we wanted to do. They also couldn’t miss from three — bad combination.” The game against Whitworth was a competitive and defensive one. Linfield trailed 30-27 at halftime. Even though Owens had 15 points at the half, Whitworth’s many offensive rebounds kept it at an advantage. Down 36-34 with 15:38 to go in the second half, the
Wildcats went on a scoring drought that lasted eight minutes, leaving them down 49-38 with 7:42 remaining. The Wildcats managed to get within three of the Pirates, but Whitworth went on a game-ending 14-8 run to win 65-56. Owens finished with 24 points and eight rebounds, while senior forward Kelsey Forrest added 18 points for the Wildcats. “We lack depth,” Kushiyama said. “Teams go on runs against us because we don’t have a deep bench to keep people fresh through-
out the games. Combine that with Nadra [Evans] having to sit most of the first half because of foul trouble, and you get the picture of what happened.” Despite the low number of wins, the season was a memorable one for the team. “There are too many great memories to pick just one as my favorite,” Gummersall said. “We really got along well, and were able to have fun all of the time. It is rare to find a group of girls that gets along as well as we do, and I am really glad that I got to be a part of this team.”
All photos by Robert Lisac/For the Review Sophomore guard Gretchen Owens (left) goes up for a shot during Linfield’s game against Whitworth University. Senior forward Kelsey Forrest (right) drives by a Pirate defender. The Wildcats fell to the Pirates 65-56 Feb. 20 despite a game-high 24 points from Owens and 18 points by Forrest.