SPOKANE, Wash. – Two weeks without a match didn't cause any rustiness for the Whitworth men's tennis team. In fact, the Pirates were the sharpest they've been all season in a 9-0 Northwest Conference win over visiting Willamette on Saturday in the Scotford Tennis Center.
Whitworth improved to 2-9 overall and 2-3 in the NWC with a shutout of the Bearcats (2-6, 1-3). The Bucs were playing their first contest since March 11th.
The Pirates rolled to a sweep of the doubles matches. Ben Bethards and Kincaid Norris shut out Gene Perle-Jones and Owen Burcham 8-0 at #2 doubles while Ian Fisher and Nick Hughes ran away with an 8-2 win over Luke Hiserman and David Liang at #3 doubles.
Norris and Fisher clinched the team win for the Bucs. Norris beat Burcham 6-1, 6-2 at #4 singles for a 4-0 Whitworth lead. Then Fisher finished off the win with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Perle-Jones at #2 singles for an insurmountable 5-0 lead.
Jake Bethards beat Aaron Schechter 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (5) at #1 singles in the only contest that went more than two sets.
Whitworth will now hit the road for a Spring Break trip to California featuring matches at Occidental, Caltech and Chapman over the next five days.
