Box Score (SURPRISE, Ariz.) The third time was the charm for PLNU Women's Tennis against Concordia.
 
After the Golden Eagles picked up a pair of close 4-3 wins over the Sea Lions earlier this season, fourth-seeded Point Loma exacted a bit of revenge on Saturday morning, beating third-seeded CUI 4-1 in the Third Place Match at the PacWest Championships to record its best-ever finish in the tournament.
 
"It was a great performance today by the women's team," Head Coach Curt Wheeler said. "Both times we'd played Concordia this season were some of the closest matches that we had.
 
"They didn't go our way both times but I know myself and the girls were confident that we simply just had to win a few more points in a couple of those matches. They were excited for the challenge today and felt like if they played good tennis, it was ours to take."
 
This time around the doubles point went Point Loma's way, serving as a sign that this match might be different than the previous two this season against Concordia, when CUI won the doubles point both times.
 
Angelique Friedrich and Joelle Lanz (No. 2) and Rachel Whittington and Amanda Letzring (No. 3) both won their doubles matches by a 6-2 margin, giving PLNU a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
"As a team we played great doubles out here at the conference tournament," Wheeler said. "We got the doubles point against Stanislaus. Against Hawaii Pacific we were one point away from getting the doubles point and we played great doubles all the way around against them.
 
"I was not surprised at all that we came out and did that today with two very strong wins at 2 and 3 doubles. Those have been courts where we'd lost before and had some close matches, but those two courts especially came out and played great."
 
The Sea Lions carried that momentum into singles, winning three out of the four matches that were finished.
 
Letzring (6-4, 6-1) and Whittington (6-1, 6-4) won handily at No. 5 and 6 respectively.
 
Lanz picked up a break to finish off her first set, 6-2, before winning the second set 6-4 and clinching PLNU's third-place finish in the PacWest.
 
Point Loma (16-8 overall), ranked fourth in the most recent NCAA regional rankings, will find out its postseason fate on Monday at 5:30 p.m. when the four teams to qualify for the NCAA West Regional are announced.
 
"It's been a great year for the women's team," Wheeler said. "Even with that, there were some close losses that we knew could've gone our way. It'd be easy to focus on those and say it's not our year, but it's been so cool to see how the girls have responded. Each new opportunity was met with optimism and confidence and it showed the entire tournament."