SPOKANE, Wash. – Visiting Lewis & Clark pulled out a hard-fought 6-3 win over Whitworth in a Northwest Conference men's tennis match that could have gone either way, but now may go a long way toward determining a spot in next month's conference tournament.

The Pioneers improved to 3-9 overall and 2-2 in the NWC while the Pirates dropped to 4-8, 1-2.

L&C won two of the three doubles matches, just barely.  Henry Preacher and Payton Romey fell 8-2 to Kristian Peev and Wade McDermott at #1, but Jess Weaver and Lance Dunn tied it up with an 8-5 win over Alberto Dos Santos and Landon Cronin at #3.  The Pioneers got the go-ahead point at #2 doubles where Matt Chio and Kai Wills edged the Pirate pair of Nathan Tjelle and Ethan Warring 8-7 (7-5).

In singles play, Peev defeated Tjelle 6-0, 6-3 at #1 singles to put L&C ahead 3-1.  But the Pirates tied things up when Warring defeated Cronin 6-3, 6-3 at #2 and Romey topped Dos Santos 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 at #3. 

The bottom three singles matches were all tight contests, but all three went to the Pioneers.  First Wills edged Colby Cinqmars 6-4, 6-4 at #6, then Chio got by Weaver 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) for the decisive point at #4 singles.  McDermott slipped by Preacher 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 at #5 in the only singles match that went past two sets. 

Whitworth will play an exhibition match at NCAA DI Idaho next Saturday, then will head to Texas for spring break on March 25-30.