McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Sunday afternoon's 7-2 Northwest Conference women's tennis victory over host and 35th-ranked Linfield College gave No. 25 Whitman College a season sweep of the Wildcats. Allie Wallin, Cello Lockwood and Jenna Gilbert were part of two wins each during the victory at Rutschman Field House.

The battle between the second- and third-place teams in the Northwest Conference creates some space now between Whitman (7-5, 6-1 NWC) and Linfield (8-4, 5-2).

Linfield captured the first point of the day with a win at No. 1 doubles only to have the lead wrested away by Whitman's 2- and 3-doubles pairings.

Wallin and Gilbert squared the match with a Whitman victory at No. 3, then Lockwood and Jenna Dobrin pushed the Whitties in front after the duo's win at No. 2

The Wildcats broke back with a win from Ella Riddle, the 22nd-ranked Division III singles player in the nation, over Dobrin, ranked 50th, at 1-singles, but the Missionaries reeled off the next five points to claim a win by the same score the Whits won by in Walla Walla in mid-February.

Wallin began the five-point streak with a three-setter at 3-singles with Mary Hill adding Whitman's fourth point with her own three-set victory at No. 2.

Lockwood provided the clinching point with a quick 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 over Linfield's Marisa Kume. Gilbert, at No. 5 and Hanna Greenberg at No. 6 added the final two points.

Whitman steps outside of conference action for its next four matches, heading to Southern California to square off against four nationally-ranked squats between March 16 and 20. The Whitties will go up against No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College, No. 15 University of Chicago, No. 32 Vassar College and 36th-ranked University of Texas at Tyler during the swing around Los Angeles.