SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth finished off an impressive opening weekend of Northwest Conference men's tennis with an 8-1 win over visiting Pacific Lutheran on Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the NWC, while the Lutes fell to 1-2, 0-2.

Whitworth earned all three doubles points.  The closest of the three matches came at #3, where John Talbot and Ben Hamming pulled out an 8-5 win over Spencer Herron and Neal Berg.  The other two doubles matches went quickly for the Pirates as Daniel Redfern and Cameron Williams topped Zack Ah Yat and Taylor Dickey 8-3 at #1 while Micah Spaun and Stefan Dernbach rolled past Daniel Cotton and Luke Olson 8-2 at #2.

Redfern and Williams both won their singles matches at the top of the lineup.  Redfern beat Ah Yat 6-0, 6-3 at #1, while Williams swept Cotton 6-2, 6-2 at #2.

PLU picked up its only point when Dickey held off Spaun 7-6, 6-3 at #3 singles.

Talbot pulled away from Berg to win 6-3, 6-0 at #4 singles, while Dernbach turned a fast start into a 6-0, 7-5 win over Olson at #5 singles.  Hamming had little trouble winning 6-1, 6-2 at #6 singles over Herron.

Next Saturday the Pirates will play their first conference road game, taking on Pacific on Saturday in Forrest Grove, Oregon.