By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's tennis team will make its second Northwest Conference road trip of the season this weekend. The Pirates head to Pacific (Ore.) on Saturday before visiting Willamette on Sunday. Both matches will start at 11:00am.
Check the men's tennis schedule for live updates on all the weekend's action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (0-2 overall, 0-1 NWC) is coming off two losses to start the season.
The Pirates fell 6-1 to Lewis-Clark St. College in Lewiston in their first match of the season on February 9th. Whitworth freshman Matthew Morrison won the first singles match in his Pirate career 6-1,6-3 to give the Bucs their lone point of the match. Morrison and Henry Preacher battled their way to a 6-4 doubles victory, but LCSC earned the decision with wins in the second and third matches.
On Saturday, Whitworth was swept by Whitman in Walla Walla. Matthew Morrison again looked strong in the #1 singles match and battled to a tiebreaker but fell 6-4, 4-6, 13-11. Ryan Ashley and Matt Froslan got their first win in the #2 doubles match 6-4 despite the Blues taking the point with two wins.
The Opponents: Pacific (1-1 NWC) opened its season with a 6-1 win over Puget Sound and a 5-2 loss to Lewis & Clark. Johnathan Nguyen and Dawson Hose make up the #1 doubles pairing while Joshua Dela Cruz is the #1 singles player for the Boxers. Nguyen and Aidan Rooney are both 2-0 in their singles matches. Pacific is led by third year head coach Rayden Murata. Whitworth has not beaten Pacific since 2013.
Willamette (0-3 NWC) hosts Whitworth after being swept in its first three matches of the season last weekend. Lewis & Clark handed the Bearcats two sweeps on Saturday and Puget Sound added another on Sunday. Zach Olander and Hudson Snyder are the #1 doubles pairing and AJ Avansino is Willamette's #1 singles player. The Bearcats are coached by Samuel Fecteau and Tyler Linscott. The Pirates have won 13 straight matches over Willamette dating back to 2013.
The Coach: Daniel Redfern is in his second year as Pirate head coach after working as an assistant since 2019. In his first season, he led Whitworth to a 3-4 NWC record (5-13 overall). Redfern was a two-year standout for the Pirates, earning first team All-conference honors in 2011 and 2012 after transferring to Whitworth.
Looking ahead: Whitworth will play its first official matches at Scotford Tennis Center against Linfield on March 1st and defending conference champion George Fox on March 2nd.
