-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --

The Hope College women's tennis team had a hard-fought battle down to the third set of the No. 6 singles match before falling, 5-4, to Linfield University (Oregon) during the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday in Rome, Georgia.

Linfield (13-2) earned its first NCAA Tournament win and advanced to a third-round match against defending national champion Wesleyan University (Connecticut) on Saturday, May 15.

The MIAA champion Flying Dutch finished with a 12-3 overall record.

Despite the loss, Head coach Bob Cawood liked how his team competed after falling behind 2-1 in doubles.

"Linfield set the tone for having an uphill battle in singles," Cawood said. "I want to stress how proud I am for how they competed. For us to be able to put ourselves in position to be up 4-3, that was big. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get one last point.

"It was a good match, one of my favorite I have ever coached. Both teams were evenly matched. The sportsmanship was A-plus from both sides."

Four of the singles matches went to three sets; Linfield won three of them.

Freshman Annika Weeber of Rockford, Michigan (Grand Rapids Christian) put Hope ahead, 4-3, with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 5 singles against Allena Wong.

Hope's top two singles players both won in straight sets.

At singles play, junior Sydney Jackson of Fort Wayne, Indiana (Carroll), pictured above, won decisively at the No. 1 flight with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Tessa Kern.

Senior Leah Newhof of Caledonia, Michigan (Grand Rapids Christian), pictured left, then served up a victory at the No. 2 flight with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Taryn Fujimori. 

Jackson and Newhof earned Hope's first point of the match by defeating Tessa Kern and Lexie Matsunaga, 8-5.

Linfield clinched the victory with three-set victories at No. 4 and No. 6 singles.

This was Hope's ninth consecutive appearance in an NCAA Tournament and 14th appearance in program history.