Cheney, Wash. - The Eastern Washington University women's tennis team won in outstanding fashion, sweeping Whitworth 7-0 at home Saturday, Feb. 27, after dropping a competitive match, 4-3, against Big Sky Conference opponent Weber State on Friday, Feb. 26.

After splitting the two matches, Eastern is now 9-4 on the season and 3-1 in league play. EWU is tied for the most Big Sky wins, and leads the conference in overall wins.

Saying the Eagles were dominant only begins to describe their victory against Whitworth. On its way to the sweep, Eastern only dropped a total of six games between the singles and doubles competition. In the No. 1 spot, sophomore Janaya Smith and freshman Faye Worrall crushed the doubles team of Bella Hoyos and Jennifer Adams, 6-0. At the same time, the pairing of junior Dani Young and junior Katrina Domingo also won their match 6-0 against Emma Jo Wiley and Anabelle Burns, and sophomore Rachel Swindell and junior Carolina Lopez paired up for the first time, beating Paige Rohrbach and Ashley Winslow, 6-1.

EWU continued to play at a high level in the singles contest with straight sets across the board. Out of the No. 1 spot, Smith defeated, 6-1, 6-0, and Swindell followed in the No. 2 spot, with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Adams. The two freshman, Worrall and Jennifer Lewis earned shutouts against their opponents. Worrall took down Burns, while Lewis got her second win in her second duals appearance, defeating Winslow. The rest of the wins came from Young over Wiley, 6-1, 6-0, and Lopez over Rohrbach, 6-1, 6-1.

The Eagles preceded that victory with an absolute heartbreaker against Weber State, losing the contest in the last singles match of the afternoon. All signs pointed to a strong performance after the doubles concluded. Eastern secured the point, winning all three matches. The tandem of Janaya Smith and Faye Worrall defeated Kristi Elmer and Sara Parker, 6-3. Fantastic doubles play continued for junior Erin Blessing and senior Moira Hedberg, beating Dominique Beauvais and Morgan Dickason, 6-2. Dani Young and Katrina Domingo finished with a similar performance, winning 6-3 against Agata Bachanek and Nicole Fitz.

The true battle began in the singles portion, however; Smith fought relentlessly against Bachanek after dropping the first set 1-6. She came back to take the second set 6-4, but the Wildcat put away the match in the final set, 6-4. Swindell earned EWU's first singles win of the day against Parker, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), while Weber State took home two more victories. After all four courts finished about the same time, that left the final two matches remaining, with the competition in WSU's favor, 3-2. All attention was now turned to the courts of Faye Worrall and Erin Blessing. Worrall dispatched her opponent, Dickason, relatively quickly, winning the first set in a close tiebreak 7-6 (7-5), then closing out strong in the second set, 6-1. One match remained, as both teams watched the final two athletes. Blessing found herself tied with Devi Hasan after two sets, 6-3, 2-6. In her second straight opportunity to clinch the win, Blessing gave a courageous performance going shot for shot with Hasan. Points were given up reluctantly, only after lengthy rallies drained each performer. With the final set tied at 3-3, Hasan went on a killer run, winning the last three games, and securing the win for the Wildcats.

Head Coach Dustin Hinson shared his thoughts on the week's matches, "We lost a tough one to Weber State on Friday. We did really well in doubles as we've done all season and carried excellent effort, energy, and fight into the singles matches. At the end of the day, we just didn't execute as well as we have in the past at key moments in our singles matches. It hurts to lose those close ones but I challenged the team to use that sting they feel as fuel to work harder and come back even stronger. They did just that on Saturday against Whitworth. They came out and dominated every match in doubles and singles from start to finish. It was the most dominate performance top to bottom that we've had in my time here at Eastern. I was proud of our response to such a tough loss on Friday. There is no give in this team and they won't let one bump in the road deter them from working towards achieving our goals this season. We have plenty of work ahead of us and we are ready to tackle it head on."

Next up for the Eagles is a home match against conference opponent Idaho State on Friday, Mar. 4, starting at 3 p.m. PST.

Results:

Eastern Washington – 3

Weber State – 4

Doubles:

1. SMITH, Janaya/WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. ELMER, Kristi/PARKER, Sara (WSU) 6-3

2. HEDBERG, Moira/BLESSING, Erin (EWU) def. BEAUVAIS, Dominique/DICKASON, Morgan (WSU) 6-2

3. YOUNG, Dani/DOMINGO, Katrina (EWU) def. BACHANEK, Agata/FITZ, Nicole (WSU) 6-3

Singles:

1. BACHANEK, Agata (WSU) def. SMITH, Janaya (EWU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4

2. ELMER, Kristi (WSU) def. HEDBERG, Moira (EWU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

3. SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. PARKER, Sara (WSU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)

4. BEAUVAIS, Dominique (WSU) def. YOUNG, Dani (EWU) 6-4, 6-3

5. HASAN, Devi (WSU) def. BLESSING, Erin (EWU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

6. WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. DICKASON, Morgan (WSU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1

Eastern Washington - 7

Whitworth – 0

Doubles:

1. SMITH, Janaya/WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. Hoyos, Bella/Adams, Jennifer (WU) 6-0

2. YOUNG, Dani/DOMINGO, Katrina (EWU) def. Wiley, Emma Jo/Burns, Anabelle (WU) 6-0

3. SWINDELL, Rachel/LOPEZ, Carolina (EWU) def. Rohrbach, Paige/Winslow, Ashley (WU) 6-1

Singles:

1. SMITH, Janaya (EWU) def. Hoyos, Bella (WU) 6-1, 6-0

2. SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. Adams, Jennifer (WU) 6-0, 6-1

3. YOUNG, Dani (EWU) def. Wiley, Emma Jo (WU) 6-1, 6-0

4. WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. Burns, Anabelle (WU) 6-0, 6-0

5. LOPEZ, Carolina (EWU) def. Rohrbach, Paige (WU) 6-1, 6-1

6. LEWIS, Jennifer (EWU) def. Winslow, Ashley (WU) 6-0, 6-0