SPOKANE, Wash. – Home for the first time in several weeks, the Whitworth University men's tennis team looked comfortable in a 9-0 shutout of visiting Willamette University on Friday in a Northwest Conference tennis contest.
The Pirates improved to 4-14 overall and 4-3 in the NWC during their first home match since March 19. The Bearcats fell to 0-9, 0-7.
Nathan Tjelle and Ethan Violette won the closest doubles match of the day when they defeated Quentin Nigbur and Andrew Kropp by a single break (8-5) at #1 doubles. Payton Romey and Cameron Brewer won 8-4 over Andre Lief and Trey Allen. Joe Greco and Austin Alteneder won by default at #3 doubles.
Jonathan Hutley pulled out the only singles match that went more than one set. He rallied to defeat Nigbur 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) at #1 singles. Whitworth had already clinched the team victory by that point.
Tjelle ran away with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lief at #3 singles, while Brewer won by the same score over Douglas Li at #4 singles. Romey was nearly as dominant in his 6-1, 6-0 win over Kropp at #2 singles. Levi Garza, a senior, held on for a 6-1, 7-5 win over Allen at #5 singles for his first career victory. Whitworth won at #6 by default.
Whitworth will close out its 2022 schedule on Saturday against visiting Pacific University.
