McMINNVILLE, Ore. - The Whitman College women's tennis team was just one set away from victory but ultimately came up short in what was a thrilling, yet disappointing, 5-4 loss at Linfield in the championship match of the Northwest Conference Women's Tennis Tournament on Sunday.

With all but one result in the books, the title hung in the balance on the No. 4 singles court between Lori Sheng and Riley Clayeux. Sheng would go up after a first-set tie-break win, but would drop the next two in a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 defeat.

Whitman faced an uphill battle after dropping two of three doubles to the only team able to hand them a conference loss this season. The Blues fell at the two and three but were able to salvage a win on the No. 1 court. The tried and true tandem of Mary Hill and Andrea Gu came through with an 8-6 win over Michelle Uyeda and Elsa Harris as the Wildcats took a 2-1 lead into singles play.

Singles action saw Whitman rally from two down to even the match late. Audrey Grigore fell 6-1, 6-1 at fifth singles to Alysse Nakasato before Hill and Anastasiya Redkina earned sweeps on the No. 2 and No. 3 courts, respectively, to even the match.

With three matches yet to finish, Gu swept Uyeda 6-4, 6-3 at the one to put Whitman up but Kattie Pak's loss on the No. 6 court brought the count to 4-4 with Sheng's match to play.

Whitman concludes the season with just one loss (7-1) in conference play and an overall 11-7 record.