SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth men's tennis will hit the road this weekend to face Linfield and Lewis & Clark in a pair of Northwest Conference dual matches.

Check the men's tennis scheduling page for live updates and scores.

The Pirates: Whitworth (2-6, 1-1 NWC) came out of its conference-opening weekend with a split as they lost to Whitman 7-2 before knocking off Puget Sound 7-2 on Sunday. The Pirates had snapped a long losing streak to Whitman on February 19, a non-conference showdown, but the Blues got back on track Saturday. Henry Preacher was responsible for both of Whitworth's points in that match as he won the #1 doubles match with Nathan Tjelle before knocking off Whitman's #4 Braeden Thomas 7-6, 6-2. #1 Payton Romey took Cameron Yang to three sets but came up short 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.  On Sunday, Whitworth had thew match clinched after five individual matches as they swept doubles and got wins from #3 Ethan Warring 6-0, 6-1, and #2 Tjelle 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. Preacher finished off an unbeaten weekend with a 6-0, 6-4 win over UPS' #4 Will Church, and #5 Jess Weaver won 6-1, 6-4 against Matthew Zou.

Preacher is 3-3 in singles this season to lead Whitworth and is 3-1 in doubles matches with Tjelle. The Pirates are 3-3 in #1 doubles matches but have not gotten a win in the top individual slot (0-8).

The Opponents: Linfield (3-3, 2-1 NWC) lost its first conference match on Sunday, 6-3 against George Fox after knocking off L&C and Willamette to open conference play. The Wildcats are led by #1 Seth Lee (2-4) and #2 Rogue Stone (3-3), those two are 5-1 when they're together in doubles. Linfield is 15-21 in singles this season, but 10-8 in doubles. The 'Cats are coached by Tessa Kern who also coaches the women's team. Kern was a former tennis standout at Linfield.

Lewis & Clark (6-3, 1-1 NWC) has looked strong to start the season. The Pioneers are 1-1 in conference play, but beat Puget Sound, Linfield, and Pacific convincingly in their non-conference schedule. L&C is led by Noah Sutin and Kai Wills, Sutin (3-4) is the #1 and Wills is generally the #2 but is also 3-0 in the #3 spot. The Pioneers are 29-21 in singles, 16-11 in doubles this season. They're coached by Jimmy Chau who's also the women's coach, Whitworth hasn't beat L&C since March 2014.

Looking ahead: Whitworth will return home for an exhibition match against Bellevue CC before they fly out to Orlando to play Union, Augustana (IL), and DePauw on March 25-27.