By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's tennis team will close the regular season with a final chance to fight for a Northwest Conference Tournament spot at Scotford Tennis Center this weekend. The Pirates host Lewis & Clark on Saturday at 11:00 am before Puget Sound visits on Sunday at 11:00. The weekend will conclude with an exhibition match against the Community Colleges of Spokane on Sunday at 4:00 pm.
The Bucs need two wins and a pair of Pacific (Ore.) losses to enter a tiebreaker for the fourth NWC Tournament spot. Check the men's tennis schedule for live updates on next week's action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (5-13 overall, 5-7 NWC) dropped a pair of key conference matches last weekend.
On Saturday, the Pirates were upset by Linfield 4-3. The Wildcats swept the doubles point to claim the first point and split the singles matches. Ryan Ashley, Matt Hossack, and Colby Cinqmars each claimed victories. Linfield earned just its third conference win of the season and knocked the Pirates back into fifth place in the conference standings.
Whitworth fell 6-1 to George Fox on Sunday. Easton Weir and Matt Hossack earned a doubles victory in the No. 3 position, but the Bruins secured the point win a pair of wins. GFU won five of six singles matches in two sets. Colby Cinqmars earned his third singles win of the season in the No. 6 position.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark visits with a 12-4 overall record and 9-3 mark in conference play. The Pioneers defeated Puget Sound 4-3 and swept Bellevue College last weekend. Sophomore Noah Sutin has a 5-6 record in the No. 1 singles position and sophomore Joey Lyon leads the way in the No. 2 position with a 6-2 record. Juniors Wade McDermott and Kai Wills compete as the top doubles duo and have a 7-6 record. Whitworth has not beaten Lewis & Clark since 2014, including a 6-1 loss on March 8th in Portland.
Puget Sounds comes to Spokane with a 3-9 overall record and 3-8 conference record. The Loggers fell 4-3 to Lewis & Clark last weekend. Sophomore Jason Rowe leads the way as the No. 1 singles player for UPS. Rowe pairs with senior Will Church as the top doubles duo. Church holds down the No. 2 singles position. The Pirates have beaten the Loggers in 19 consecutive matches, including a narrow 4-3 win in Tacoma on March 9th.
NWC Standings: Whitman holds the top spot in the conference standings with an 11-1 record. George Fox (10-2) is in second with Lewis & Clark (9-3) trailing. Pacific (7-5) pulled ahead into fourth while Whitworth fell to 5-7. Puget Sound (3-9), Linfield (3-9) and Willamette (0-12) 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: The NWC Men's Tennis Tournament will take place on April 19th and 20th, hosted by the first-place team.
