SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth men's tennis picked up its first win of the season by beating rival Whitman for the first time in over two decades, 5-4 on Monday night in the Scotford Tennis center.
The Pirates (1-5) had the match clinched after six sets, sweeping all three doubles matches and winning the #2, and #4 singles matches. Whitman (1-5) recovered to win the last two matchups after Whitworth had already secured the win. It is the first and biggest career win for head coach Daniel Redfern who was hired in October.
The #2 duo of Payton Romey and Ethan Warring got things going for the Pirates with an 8-5 win, the #3 pair of Colby Cinqmars and Jess Weaver added a convincing 8-4 win before the #1 duo of Henry Preacher and Nathan Tjelle finished off the sweep with an 8-7 (7-4) win over the Blues top duo of Artem Manov and Charles Rush.
#2 Tjelle knocked off Whitman's Diego Guzman 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, #4 Preacher took care of Charles Rush in two sets 6-3, 7-6 (6-5) to officially clinch the win for Whitworth. Weaver and Cinqmars fell short in two sets each.
Whitworth's win will not count as a conference victory, the first official Northwest Conference match will be at Whitman on March 2nd in Walla Walla.
