CLACKAMAS, Ore. – The Whitworth men's tennis team lost its Northwest Conference opener 6-3 at George Fox on Saturday evening at the Clackamas River Racquet Club.
The Pirates dropped to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the NWC, while the Bruins improved to 2-2, 1-0.
George Fox earned its margin of victory by taking two of the three doubles matches. GFU's Spencer Watanabe and Alex Namba defeated Shane Sandlin and Jeffrey Vulis 8-3 at #1 and Jacob Farmer and Matt Bigg swept Ian Fisher and Ben Bethards 8-0 at #3. The Pirates' point came at #2 where Caleb Hughes and Jake Bethards held off Ryan Malinowski and Davin Lee 8-6.
George Fox put the match away by sweeping the top three singles matches. Watanabe rolled past Sandlin 6-1, 6-0 at #1, while Bigg defeated Hughes 6-2, 6-3 at #2. Fisher fell 6-1, 6-1 to Namba at #3.
Whitworth rallied with three wins in the bottom three singles contests. First Vulis dominated Lee 6-0, 6-2 at #5. Then Ben Bethards edged Farmer 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (8-6) at #6. The final Pirate point came when Jake Bethards rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) win over Malinowski at #4 singles.
Whitworth will finish its trip to Oregon with a match at Lewis & Clark on Sunday.
