Poets Take 2-1 Lead in Doubles, Gain Momentum in 7-2 Win over Bearcats

Alexis Gjurasic (Sr., Olympia, WA/Capital HS)

March 24, 2019

Team Stats

Game Statistics	Willamette	Whittier
Score	2	7

Doubles

Yeung, Kindall / Rodriguez, Amanda def. Dean, Sarah / Pashek, Robin 8-3
Turner, Avery / Lopez, Kallysta def. Marr, Sylvia / Gjurasic, Alexis 8-7 (7-3)
Ginsburg, Siena / Andres, Hannah def. Schmidt-P.,Madeline / Bendanillo, Stacey 8-3

Singles

Yeung, Kindall def. Dean, Sarah 6-4 , 4-6 , 1-0 (10-5)
Rodriguez, Amanda def. Pashek, Robin 6-2 , 6-2
Turner, Avery def. Ginsburg, Siena 6-0 , 6-1
Lopez, Kallysta def. Marr, Sylvia 6-1 , 6-0
Gjurasic, Alexis def. Embrey, Kiara 6-4 , 6-3
Cutler, Julie def. Andres, Hannah 6-4 , 6-0

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

WHITTIER, Calif. -- Whittier College won two of three doubles matches, including a tie-breaker victory at the #2 position, to take a lead over Willamette University entering singles play. The momentum carried over for the Poets, who won five of six singles matches to defeat the Bearcats, 7-2. Whittier advanced to 3-6 on the season, while Willamette dropped to 2-3.

At #1 doubles, Whittier's team of Kindall Yeung and Amanda Rodriguez outscored Willamette's Sarah Dean (So., Boise, ID/Timberline HS) and Robin Pashek (So., The Dalles, OR/The Dalles-Wahtonka HS), 8-3. In the battle at #2 doubles, Avery Turner and Kallysta Lopez of the Poets downed Sylvia Marr (So., Grants Pass, OR/Hidden Valley HS) and Alexis Gjurasic (Sr., Olympia, WA/Capital HS) of WU, 8-7 (7-3).

Willamette prevailed at #3 doubles, as Siena Ginsburg (So., Bend, OR/Summit HS) and Hannah Andres (Sr., Sammamish, WA/Skyline HS) defeated Madeline Schmidt-Perez and Stacey Bendanillo, 8-3.

Gjurasic won for the Bearcats at #5 singles. She held off Kiara Embrey in both sets to win, 6-4, 6-3.

The Poets earned victories in the remaining singles flights, but it took a super tie-breaker played instead of a third set for Yeung to win against Dean in the top singles match. Yeung took the first set, 6-4, and Dean won the second set, 6-4, before Yeung won the super tie-breaker, 10-5.

Also winning in singles for Whittier were Rodriguez at #2, Turner at #3, Lopez at #4, and Julie Cutler at #6. In the #6 singles match, Cutler edged out Andres in the first set, 6-4, and then won the second set, 6-0.

The Bearcats will play at Hope International University on Monday, March 25 in Furllerton, California. The match is slate to begin at 11 a.m. (PDT).

Alexis Gjurasic (Sr., Olympia, WA/Capital HS)

Big Moment of the Match for Willamette

Alexis Gjurasic won #5 singles in straight sets, as she held off
a strong challenge from Kiara Embrey of Whittier to register a
6-4, 6-3 victory. Gjurasic also teamed up with Sylvia Marr at
#2 doubles, where they played a solid match before falling to
Avery Turner and Kallysta Lopez in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (7-3).