WALLA WALLA, Wash. – In a non-conference doubleheader outside of its normal NCAA Division III competition the 22nd-ranked Whitman College women's tennis team earned a split on Sunday at home in the Bratton Indoor Tennis Center, rolling to a 9-0 victory over the NAIA's Lewis-Clark State College in the morning before succumbing to D-I University of Idaho, 6-1, in the late match. Idaho swept L-C State 7-0 in the afternoon match.

Sunday's results leave Whitman with a 1-2 overall record this spring. Idaho's sweep of the day lifts the Vandals to 4-3, while L-C State, ranked 13th in the NAIA preseason poll, drops to 2-5 with it's two losses.

Last spring in Lewiston, Idaho, LCSU swept the trio of doubles matches on its way to an 8-1 victory over the Missionaries. Sunday was a reversal of the story with Whitman racing out to the quick 3-0 lead after doubles.

Lindsey Brodeck and Jana Klages-Miller notched the first point with an 8-4 win at 3-doubles. The No. 1 pairing of Hanna Greenberg and Mary Hill added another victory, 8-6, followed soon after by a 9-7 win at 2-doubles by the Whitman pairing of Jenna Dobrin and Cello Lockwood.

Staked to a 3-0 lead Whitman was able to pound away during the singles matches, winning five of the six clashes without dropping a set.

Allie Wallin was quickest to finish, racing past the Warriors' Anna Rodriguez by scores of 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5. At 3-singles Hill routed Stephanie Buckingham in the opening set, 6-2, then fended off a charge from Buckingham in the second, capturing the match 7-6 and 7-2 in the set tiebreaker.

Jenna Gilbert only surrendered five games in her 6-2, 6-3 win over Jen Roux at No. 6 for Whitman, then Dobrin (7-5, 6-4) at No. 1 and Lockwood (7-6(3), 6-2) at No. 2 added two more points.

Klages-Miller completed the sweep for her teammates, battling back from a 6-2 loss in the opener at No. 4 to rally with 6-2, 1-0 (12-10) wins in the second and third sets to defeated Deanri Human in a lengthy battle.

As expected, Idaho provided an increased challenge for the Whitties in the late afternoon match.

Early doubles action had each of the three Whitman tandems hanging tight by scores of 3-2 across the courts. The Vandals duos, however, each found a service break then sprinted to the finish winning Nos. 1 and 2 by the same 6-3 score and closing out No. 3 by a 6-2 count.

The long rallies throughout most of the singles battles were hidden by the eventual scores Idaho was able to reel off in winning five of the six matches. Each of the Whitman singles players forced the Vandals to elevate their games to earn wins.

Brodeck picked up the lone victory for Whitman against Idaho, taking a 3-0 lead over Celine Koets at 5-singles before an injury forced Koets to retire from the match.

Sunday's matches provided an excellent tune-up for the Missionaries' next outing -- hosting the WC Winter Classic at Bratton on February 12-14. Whitman will entertain four other teams in the round-robin-style format as the Missionaries, Trinity (Texas) University, Lewis & Clark College, Linfield College and University of Redlands will all eventually play against each other over the three days in Walla Walla.