WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Saturday's national-caliber women's tennis matchup between host and 25th-ranked Whitman College and No. 20 Lewis & Clark College went down to the wire as the final two singles matches left on the Whitman Tennis Courts decided the team outcome. The visiting Pioneers would finally eke out a 5-4 Northwest Conference victory over the Missionaries after earning a split of those two singles bouts.

The pairing of Whitman (9-8, 6-2 NWC) and Lewis & Clark (12-2, 8-0) was a battle between the two teams sitting atop the league standings. The Whitties' only conference losses this season have been to the Pios.

Saturday's spirited contest opened with Whitman taking wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles, exacting some revenge for defeats in those spots in the February match at Lewis & Clark. Hanna Greenberg and Mary Hill rolled out an 8-4 win at 1-doubles while Jenna Dobrin and Cello Lockwood were teaming up for an 8-2 win at No. 2.

The Pios' win at 3-doubles, however, was a spark that helped L&C earn three consecutive points after adding on wins at Nos. 3 and 4 to begin singles action.

Mary Hill halted that run with a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 over Lewis & Clark's Aurora Garrison. In the February match Hill -- now ranked 18th in the West region -- was forced to work into a third set for the win against the same opponent but this time around proved to be much different.

The point from Hill brought Whitman even with the Pios, 3-3, but the visitors would move to within a point of clinching the match with Summer Garrison's win at 1-singles over Whitman's Dobrin. Garrison, ranked fourth in the region in singles, took the first set from Dobrin, 13th in the region, but was forced to forge a come-from-behind win in the second after Dobrin had broken out to the advantage midway through the set.

That left the 5- and 6-singles matches out on the courts to determine the outcome.

In each, Whitman's representatives earned first-set wins only to have their Pioneer opponents pull back even with second-set victories.

The third-set scores were identical, 6-4, it was just that Lewis & Clark's Kacey Incerpi would steal the win from Whitman's Jenna Gilbert at No. 6 only minutes before the Missionaries' Lindsey Brodeck would down Claudia Lew at No. 5, allowing the Pios to escape with the narrow, one-point victory.

Whitman has little time to ponder Saturday's results as it welcomes George Fox University to campus Sunday at 10 a.m. for another Northwest Conference match. The event will serve as Senior Day for the Missionaries who will honor Dobrin and Katrina Allick before the match starts.