PORTLAND, Ore. – Linfield remains undefeated in the Northwest Conference after scoring an 8-1 women’s tennis victory over Lewis & Clark Saturday afternoon at the LC Tennis Dome.

For the fourth consecutive match, the Wildcats (4-0, 4-0 NWC) swept through doubles play, gaining an early 3-0 advantage over the Pioneers (0-3, 0-2 NWC).

Abby Olbrich and Caroline Brigham (Jr., Eagle, Idaho) downed Jill Coleman and Olivia Sweetman 8-3 to open the afternoon at No. 1 doubles. In one of the closets matches of the day, Kaila and Kiana Nip edged out Gillian Lowe and Lisa Osepyan by a score of 9-7.

Lexi Thomas (Sr., Redding, Calif.) and Kelly Watanabe (Soph., Kirkland, Wash.) gave Linfield its third point of the afternoon with an 8-1 decision over Makena McCluskey and Elisa Alway.

Already in the driver’s seat with a 3-0 lead, the Wildcats then swept five of six singles flights to secure the victory.

Olbrich crushed Coleman 6-1, 6-0 as Brigham defeated Lowe 6-3, 6-0. Kaila Nip (Soph., Lahaina, Hawaii) toppled McCluskey 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4 singles while older sibling Kiana bested Always 6-1, 6-0. In a freshman-versus-freshman tilt at No. 6 singles, it was Watanabe who earned the 6-2, 6-1 victory over Justine Minette.

The greatest battle was waged between Thomas and the Pios’ Osepyan. After the two won a set apiece, the third went to a tiebreaker, where Osepyan eventually prevailed by a score of 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8).

UP NEXT: Linfield hosts back-to-back matches against Pacific Lutheran and Willamette. Friday’s match against the Lutes begins at 3:30 p.m. and Saturday’s tilt against Willamette kicks off at 1 p.m.