SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth men's tennis dropped its conference opener to Whitman 7-2 in Walla Walla on Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates (1-6) knocked off the Blues (2-6) in their first meeting of the season but came up short today as Whitman took two of three doubles matches and the top three singles matches.

The #1 duo of Payton Romey and Ethan Warring got things rolling with an 8-6 win over Artem Manov and Charles Rush, but the Blues proceeded to win the next four matches. Whitman's #3 and #2 in Manov and Lucas Huang knocked off Whitworth's, Tjelle, and Warring to go up 4-1.

#4 Henry Preacher beat Braeden Thomas 7-6, 6-2 to keep Whitworth alive, but #1 Payton Romey lost in three sets to Whitman's Cameron Yang 6-2, 7-5, 6-3. #5 Jess Weaver fell to Noah Baker 6-3, 6-2 and Colby Cinqmars wrapped up the night with a loss to Alejandro Raffo 6-1, and 6-3.

Whitworth will seek to refocus amidst a short turn around as they host Puget Sound on Sunday, seeking its first conference win of the young season.