CLAREMONT, Calif. – The start of the Whitman College women's tennis team's spring break trip in California got off to a rousing start Wednesday morning as the 25th-ranked Missionaries overpowered No. 36 University of Texas at Tyler, 9-0, in a match at the Pomona-Pitzer College tennis courts.

The Whitties (8-5) rolled out three wins in the opening doubles matches, putting the Patriots (13-2) into a deep hole right from the start.

"This is a great start to our trip," said head coach John Hein. "And I liked how we came out with a lot of energy at the beginning here in doubles."

Hanna Greenberg and Mary Hill took care of business at 1-doubles with an 8-5 win, a score that the No. 2 pairing of Jenna Dobrin and Cello Lockwood would equal. The greatest drama of the three matches came at No. 3 where Allie Wallin and Lindsey Brodeck were locked in a 7-7 tie with Texas-Tyler's Kaitlyn Huskey and Lauren Kuhn. The energy Hein spoke of was evident on the court with Wallin and Brodeck as well as on the sidelines with the team lending vocal support, leading to a sweep of the final two games to propel Wallin and Brodeck to victory.

Singles action was dominated by the Whitties. The top five slots were each won in straight sets with the no Whitman player surrendering more than four games in a set.

Jenna Gilbert took the mantel of adding excitement to the already-decided match with her battle against UTT's Janae Warren at 6-singles. Gilbert broke ahead first, coming back from a 4-3 deficit to take the opening set 6-3, but Warren streaked out to a 6-2 win in the second to square the match, sending it to a super-tiebreak third set. Gilbert and Warren contended that tiebreaker as their match score indicated, playing nearly point for point against each other. In the end Gilbert pulled out the final two points to take the tiebreaker 11-9 and finish up the shutout for the Whitties.

Dobrin, Hill, Wallin, Lockwood and Brodeck each finished up the morning with wins in both singles and doubles for Whitman, which continues its stay in California with a visit Thursday to No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges for a 10 a.m. non-conference match between two of the top four teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Division III West Region.