Boxscore
by Jimmy Chau
PORTLAND, OR.-
It was another tough day on the courts for the Pios, but freshman Muneeb Khan turns in a solid performance for the first win of his career. Continuing their surprising season with a group of young players, George Fox beats an improving Lewis & Clark squad 8-1.
Slowly starting to find their way in doubles, the Pioneers had trouble dealing with the aggressive Bruins early as they fell into deficits they couldn't get out of. Josiah Jackson and Peter Brown jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Quinn Roth-Carter and George Allen could hold serve and break back to make it 5-2. They wouldn't threaten again as the Bruin pair would win 8-3. Cole Pfeiffer and Muneeb Khan found some success late in their match but ultimately fell by an 8-3 score also to Pax Magaway and Nolan Staples. The Bruins would also take the number two flight fairly easily as Preston Mann and Justin McClain would take an 8-1 decision over Kerry White and Sam Franer.
The day's most crowd pleasing match came at the #1 spot where Preston Mann and George Allen would keep the fans in attendance on the edge of their seat for a good hour. Having very similar games, the two were destined to play a close match. Allen seemed to get the better of it early on as he built leads at 5-4 and 6-5. Mann simply wouldn't go away though as he battled back set points to push it into a tie breaker. Allen would again jump out to a quick start and build a 6-2 lead. Unfazed, Mann stuck to his game plan and a couple loose points by Allen seemed to turn the tide. Mann would cut down on his errors and Allen missed a couple opportunities and before you know it, the Bruin sideline would erupt as their teammate would take the set in a 12-10 tie break thriller. Demoralized, Allen seemed to have little left in the tank as Mann finished off the match with a 6-2 second set win. Flights 2-4 went to the Bruins fairly easily. McClain polished off Roth-Carter 6-2, 6-1. Transfer Peter Brown handled Pfeiffer 6-1, 6-1 and Jackson was no match for White in a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing. Sam Franer had several periods of inspired and stellar play but could not keep up the high level in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Andy Tweet. The Pioneers would find their lone point for the day in the last match of the afternoon at the #6 flight. Muneeb Khan, an international student from Pakistan, played the best tennis of his young career in a fairly dominating 6-3, 6-2 win. Mixing in big serving and a steady ground game, the Pio turned in his most complete performance of the year.
The Pioneers take to the road in Southern California next against Cal Tech at 10 am on March the 19th.
