SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's tennis team is still looking for its first win of 2015 after falling to nationally-ranked Whitman 7-2 in the Pirates' home opener on Saturday.

The Missionaries improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Northwest Conference, while Whitworth dropped to 0-5, 0-3.

Whitman took a 2-1 lead after the doubles matches.  The Bucs' got their point when Chris Engelmann and Drew Adams rallied to beat Parker Silverman and Trevor Fennessy 9-8 (7-5) at #3 doubles.  Colton Malesovas and James Rivers defeated Drew Brigham and Shane Sandlin 8-4 at #1 doubles.  Zach Hewlin and Jake Hoeger topped Blake Miller and Matt Goebel 8-6 at #2 for the second Whitman point. 

Peter Jivkov gave the Missionaries a 3-1 lead with his 6-3, 6-3 win over Engelmann at #3 singles.  Then Hewlin topped Miller 6-3, 6-1 at #2 singles to clinch the team victory.

Malesovas edged Brigham 7-6, 6-3 in a hard-fought match at #1 singles.

Whitworth got its singles point when Goebel beat Fennessy 6-3, 6-1 at #6 singles.  Goebel improved to 3-1 this season.

The Pirates will travel to Tacoma to play at Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran next weekend.