TACOMA, Wash. – Visiting Whitworth earned an 8-1 men's tennis win at Puget Sound to sweep the season series against the Loggers on Friday afternoon at the UPS Tennis Pavilion.
The Pirates improved to 8-10 overall and 3-3 in the NWC thanks to a win in the second match, which was a conference-counting contest.
Whitworth won two of the three doubles matches, including an 8-1 win by Nathan Tjelle and Ethan Warring at #2 that took less than 30 minutes. Payton Romey and Henry Preacher beat Mike Smolskis and Rene Del Barco 8-3 at #1 for the Bucs. The Loggers (4-7, 2-4 NWC) got their only point at #3 doubles where Will Church and Brayden Sawyer defeated Whitworth's Jess Weaver and Lance Dunn.
The Pirates won all six singles matches and only one contest went more than two sets. Tjelle was the first one done at #1 singles with his 6-3, 6-2 win over Smolskis. Preacher clinched the team victory with his 6-2, 7-5 win over Conor Blakeney at #5 singles, making the team score 5-1. Romey pulled out a 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-8) comeback win over Trent Beckman at #3 singles in the final match to finish.
Whitworth will return home for a quick turnaround against league-leading George Fox with a match that begins tomorrow at 11:00 am at the Scotford Tennis Center.
