By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's tennis team will host Linfield on Saturday and defending Northwest Conference champion George Fox on Sunday in its first conference matches at Scotford Tennis Center this season. Both matches start at 11:00am.
Check the men's tennis schedule for live updates on all the weekend's action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (1-3 overall, 1-2 NWC) split a pair of NWC matches last weekend.
The Pirates fell 6-1 to Pacific (Ore.) on Saturday. Ryan Ashley and Matt Froslan fought hard in the second pairing (6-4), but the Boxers swept the doubles matches. Henry Preacher grabbed the lone Pirate point and his first singles win of the season with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 three-set victory.
On Sunday, visiting Whitworth swept Willamette in a dominant first win. Matt Hossack and Easton Weir earned their first win in the third doubles pairing 6-1. Each singles match was won in two sets and no Bearcat player scored more than three points. Weir, Hossack, Matt Froslan and Ryan Ashley all won their first singles matches of the season. The Pirates have now won 14 straight matches against the Bearcats.
The Opponents: Linfield (1-3 overall, 1-2 NWC) split two conference matches last weekend. The Wildcats were swept by Lewis & Clark 7-0 on Saturday before taking down Puget Sound 4-3 on Sunday. Sophomore Brooks Lerfald plays in the #1 slot for Linfield and has an 0-4 record on the season. Junior Alexander Rosenquist is 1-2 in the second singles slot and has a doubles victory with senior Matous Young. Whitworth has won five straight matches against Linfield dating back to 2019. Four of those matches were won by a score of 5-4.
George Fox comes to Spokane with a 3-1 overall record and 3-0 conference mark. The Bruins have won the last four conference tournament titles. Last weekend, GFU defeated Puget Sound 5-2 on Saturday before a 6-1 win over Lewis & Clark on Sunday. The Bruins are led by Graduate student Lars Schmassmann, who is 4-0 in singles and 4-0 in doubles in the #1 position. Schmassmann's doubles partner Ikuho Ebisu has a 3-1 record in the third slot and was named NWC men's tennis Student-Athlete of the Week. GFU has won seven straight matches over the Pirates dating back to 2017.
NWC Standings: George Fox and Whitman top the standings with 3-0 conference records. Lewis & Clark (4-1) is close behind in third while Pacific sits at 3-2. Linfield and Whitworth are tied for fifth at 1-2. Puget Sound (1-4) and Willamette (0-5) round out the standings.
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 head to Portland to take on Lewis & Clark on March 8th before visiting Puget Sound on March 9th.
