WALLA WALLA, Wash. The team achievement always comes first she will readily admit, but one could forgive
Hanna Greenberg if the senior's thoughts strayed for a brief moment during Whitman's 9-0 Northwest Conference women's tennis victory Saturday over visiting Pacific Lutheran University.
During doubles action against the Lutes Greenberg joined Whitman's Century Club by achieving her 100th career victory with her and
Andrea Gu's 8-1 win at 1-doubles in the Bratton Indoor Tennis Center.
To accent her special moment, she later added her 101st win with a straight-set, 6-1 and 6-2, victory over PLU's Bayley Gouchanour in singles action.
Greenberg's and her teammates' play against the Lutes lifted the Blues' conference record to 5-1 and inched their overall record upward to 7-8. PLU dropped to 2-5 and 3-13, respectively, with Saturday's shutout loss.
The win by Greenberg and Gu in doubles set Whitman on its path for the remainder of the afternoon as points from the Nos. 2 and 3 doubles pairings followed. The six consecutive singles victories were capped off by
Jenna Gilbert's rallying 2-1 victory at No. 6.
Mary Hill and
Lori Sheng notched the second point of the day with an 8-0 win at 2-doubles, and
Kattie Pak and
Anastasiya Redkina completed the sweep with an 8-2 at No. 3.
Hill and Redkina scored the first wins in singles play -- with Redkina's 2 and 1 victory clinching the match -- before Greenberg added her singles win at No. 3 to the team totals.
Gu pounded out a 1 and 3 win over Caroline Dreher at 1-singles leaving Pak and Gilbert out on the courts to try to close out the match sweep.
Pak did her part with a commanding 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 5.
Gilbert, however, dropped her opening set to Kylie Rademacher, 6-4, to put the sweep in peril.
Though one day prior to Senior Day for the Blues, Gilbert called on her own senior experience and bounced back to square the match at 6-2, forcing a third-set super-tiebreaker.
She and Rademacher traded points past the 10-point goal, with both teams now lining the court beside the combatants and cheering every outcome.
Finally, Gilbert was able to put the finishing touches on a 14-12 tiebreak win to take her match and cement the shutout for her Blues teammates.
The real Senior Day will be Sunday against visiting University of Puget Sound in an 11 a.m. match at Bratton.