Harunaga/Nilsson in ITA Finals
Three of the members of the Pioneer tennis team will be playing
in the ITA Small College Regional Championships at the end of
September.
For the men, George Allen played at Linfield September 23. He won
his opening round singles match, but fell in the Round of 32
(second round). .
Lisa Harunaga and newcomers Whitney DeBree, Amalia Nilsson and Alix Dixon will play in the women's tournament the following weekend at Willamette, Sept. 28-30.
Friday, Sept. 28
With the tournament being marred by weather issues, the singles matches all were played with most of the doubles matches being pushed back a day.
In singles action, Whitney Debree won her first round match, defeating Willamette's Christy Newell 6-3, 6-2 before falling in the second round to Linfield's Kasey Kuenzli 6-1, 6-0. Newcomer Alix Dixon bowed in the first round to Willamette's Brooke Sessions 6-0, 6-0.
Lisa Harunaga and Amalia Nilsson each had a first-round bye. Both took advantage of their seeding to win their second round matches, Harunaga defeating Willamette's Becca Johnson 6-0, 6-0 and Nilsson winning over George Fox's Brittanty Eckstrom 6-0, 6-2.
In the third round (field of sixteen), Nilsson holds the #2 seed and Harunaga is seeded fourth. Harunaga will take on the 12th seeded Heather Orr of George Fox while Nilsson will face the #9 seed Ashley Brooks from PLU.
Saturday, Sept. 29
Lisa Harunaga and Amalia Nilsson advanced to the quarterfinals with singled victories Saturday morning. Harunaga advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Linfield's Sophie Larson. Nilsson defeated Willamette's Tiffany Kam 6-2, 6-0. The pair also advances to the semifinals in doubles after defeating Hadley DeBree and Divneet Kaur of Whitman 8-3.
Sunday, Sept. 30
Lisa Harunaga and Amalia Nilsson advanced to the finals of the doubles bracket after defeating Koats/Feltus of Pacific Lutheran 9-8 (7-3). The Pair fell in the finals 9-8 (7-4) to the champions from Linfield Katter/Kuenzli.
In singles action, Harunaga defeated Linfield's Sophie Larson 6-3, 3-6 (10-7) to advance to the semifinals. She fell 6-1, 6-1 to Linfield's Kasey Kuenzli. Amalia Nilsson defeated Willamette's Tiffany Kam 6-2, 6-0 to move onto the semifinals. In the semis, Nilsson defeated Elsie Otto of Whitman 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the finals. Nilsson fell in the finals 6-4, 6-0 to Linfield's Kasey Kuenzli.
