Linfield Duo of Johnson And Rodgers Heading to Nationals

Both are making their first national championship tournament appearances.

Linfield's Megan Rodgers and Becca Johnson

McMINNVILLE - Linfield College senior tennis players Becca Johnson and Megan Rodgers have qualified to compete at the ITA Small College Championships, Oct. 11th-14th, at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla.

Johnson will compete in the Division III singles tournament, and will also team with Rodgers for the Division III doubles championships.

Both Wildcats are making their first national championship tournament appearances.

Rodgers and Johnson qualified for the ITA Small College Championships after winning the ITA Northwest Regional tournament last week in Walla Walla, Wash. By winning regional championships, both players were accorded ITA All-America standing. Johnson, the Northwest Region singles and doubles champion, received two All-America certificates, while Rodgers was recognized as a doubles All-American.

“Going into the regional, our goal was to get to the national tournament,” said Rodgers. “We’ve improved so much as a doubles team since we started playing together four years ago.”

One advantage the two Linfield players will hold over their opposition is the fact that they have played side-by-side for so long. In a collegiate setting, few doubles tandems remain together for four straight years, they said.

“We’re very excited to be playing in a national tournament,” said Johnson, a physics and mathematics major. “But there is a lot of stress involved with this. We’re going to miss an entire week of classes.”

Rodgers, a rare student-athlete who majors in nursing at Linfield’s Portland campus, participates in 16 hours a week of clinical pediatric experience at Emanuel Hospital. Johnson, meanwhile, has been busy completing application materials for a Fulbright Scholarship. Following her graduation in the spring, she would like to conduct research in Australia on the physics of tennis.

But first come the ITA national championships.

“We’re playing great doubles right now and we really want to carry that into the tournament in Florida,” said Rodgers.

“To be able to represent Linfield at the national tournament is going to be a great honor,” added Johnson. “Becca and Megan are a strong force on our team as demonstrated by their leadership and work ethic,” said Linfield women’s coach Amy Dames Smith.

“I’m glad to see them earn recognition by competing in a national tournament.”

The ITA Small College Championships determine men's and women's singles and doubles national champions for NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and junior colleges. Those champions then meet to decide the overall national small college champions (for all divisions) in the ITA "Super Bowl" of Small College Tennis. From there, the respective men's and women's singles and doubles champions earn wild card berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, held in November.

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