By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's tennis team will hit the road for a unique conference road trip this weekend. The Pirates will head to Portland on Saturday to visit Lewis & Clark before traveling up to Tacoma to battle Puget Sound 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 (2-4 overall, 2-3 NWC) split a pair of NWC matches for the second straight weekend.
The Pirates defeated Linfield 6-1 on Saturday at Scotford Tennis Center. The doubles decision went to the Pirates with wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 matches. Whitworth won five of six singles matches, each of them in two sets. Matthew Morrison won his third match of the season 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 3 position and Henry Preacher won his third consecutive singles match in the No. 2 slot.
On Sunday, Whitworth fell 5-2 to visiting George Fox. The Pirates played well and again took the doubles point after wins in the second and third positions. Matt Froslan and Ryan Ashley clinched the point with a 7-6 (8-6) win the No. doubles position. Matt Hossack and Easton Weir got it done 6-2 in the No. 3 match. Both pairs are now on a three-match winning streak. Henry Preacher kept his winning streak going with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Three of the six singles matches included a tiebreaker, but none went the Pirates' way.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark is off to a hot start this spring and hosts Whitworth with an 8-2 overall record and 5-1 mark in the NWC. The Pioneers lone conference loss was to George Fox on February 23rd by a score of 6-1. L&C defeated Puget Sound 6-1 in its latest match last Saturday. Sophomore Noah Sutton has a 5-3 record in the No. 1 position for the Pioneers this season. Wade McDermott and Kai Wills combine as the top doubles pairing with a 5-4 record this spring. L&C has beaten the Pirates in 17 straight matches, the last Whitworth win coming in 2016.
Puget Sound is 1-5 overall and 1-4 in the NWC this spring. Last weekend, the Loggers were beaten 6-1 by Lewis & Clark on Sunday. Their win was a 7-0 handling of Willamette on February 16th. Sophomore Jason Rowe leads the Loggers as their No. 1 singles player. Rowe pairs with Will Church as the first doubles duo. Whitworth has won 18 consecutive matches against UPS dating back to 2012, including a 7-2 win last season in Spokane.
NWC Standings: Whitman holds the top spot in the standings with a 5-0 conference record. Lewis & Clark is second at 5-1 with George Fox (4-1) close behind. Pacific is fourth at 3-2 and Whitworth (2-3) sits in fifth. Linfield (1-4), Puget Sound (1-5) 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 heads to Walla Walla to battle Whitman on March 15th before hosting Lewis-Clark St. on March 16th.
