WALLA WALLA, Wash. – It didn't take long for Whitman College's women's tennis team to roll its way into the championship match of the Northwest Conference championship tournament as the 23rd-ranked Missionaries made quick work, 5-0, of visiting Whitworth University in the first of two semifinal matches Friday on the Whitman Tennis Courts.

Whitman (16-5) advances into Saturday's 10 a.m. championship match -- with an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament on the line -- against the winner of Friday's other semifinal between No. 29 Lewis & Clark College and No. 36 Linfield College. Whitworth closes out its season with a 9-9 record after the loss.

It took only two hours for Whitman to reach its match-clinching fifth point with Allie Wallin taking those honors when she recorded a straight-set win, 6-0 and 6-1, over Whitworth's Jennifer Adams at 4-singles. Only minutes before Courtney Lawless completed a 6-0, 6-1 victory over the Pirates' Bella Hoyos at No. 1 singles to set up Wallin for the deciding point.

Their singles victories were the second points of the day earned by Wallin and Lawless who had picked up wins with different partners during Whitman's 3-0 doubles sweep.

After Hanna Greenberg and Madison Webster notched the Missionaries' first point, with an 8-2 win at 2-doubles, Courtney and sister Morgan Lawless raced to a win at No. 1 by the same score. The 3-doubles tandem of Wallin and Erin Bell took an 8-4 decision from Whitworth's Annabelle Burns and Morgan McDivitt by an 8-4 score to complete the sweep and move Whitman to within two points from victory.

Whitman is seeking its fourth consecutive NWC tournament title. It captured the first of the current string as the second seed at the 2012 tournament then added titles in 2013 and 2014 as the top seed.