WALLA WALLA, Wash.  It took the tournament's No. 1 seed three sets to finally down the tenacious doubles pairing of Whitman College's Mary Hill and Hanna Greenberg in Sunday's championship match of the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women's Fall Northwest Regional. But finally Ella Riddle and Elsa Harris of Linfield College were able to overcome the gritty Whitman pair to claim the doubles title and ITA All-American recognition.

"It was tight from start to finish," exclaimed Whitman head coach John Hein. "I'm so proud of how much Hanna and Mary have grown in each of their games (this weekend). This is huge in our growth and readiness for the spring season."

The Whitman pair broke in front of Riddle and Harris Sunday afternoon, battling to a 7-5 triumph in the first set.

The second set turned the tables as Linfield's tandem evened the match with a 6-3 win to send the championship into a third-set super-tiebreaker.

The two teams battled back and forth without either gaining much of an edge on the other through most of the tiebreaker. Finally, though, Linfield's pair was able to scratch out the final points to take the title with an 11-9 victory.

The doubles crown was redemption of a sort for Riddle who also entered the Regional as the top seed in the singles bracket. She rolled into the singles final early Sunday afternoon without losing a set but this time suffered a straight-set loss, 6-2 and 6-0, to Lewis & Clark College's Wiktoria Plawska.

The Regional concludes Whitman's fall season but the weekend's results allow for great expectations for the spring championship season.