WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- The Lewis & Clark Pioneers had roared up the national rankings in the last few weeks and rode a seven-match winning streak into the Northwest Conference Championship semifinals on Saturday at the Whitman Tennis Courts.
One of the teams that No. 30 Lewis & Clark had surpassed on the way up the top 40 was Pacific, the Pioneers opponent in the match-up of the middle seeds at the four-team conference tournament. With a 2-1 deficit after doubles, Lewis & Clark, the tournament's third seed, won only one singles match to fall 5-2 to the 33rd-ranked Boxers.
The loss ends the Pioneers season with a 13-8 overall record and was their first since Mar. 27.
Harrison Collins was the only victorious singles player for Lewis & Clark. Playing in the No. 4 position, Collins defeated Rubin Mulhern, 6-2, 6-0, for his seventh win in a row and ended the season with a 15-4 record.
In the No. 3 match-up, Kevin Ross took a one-set lead with a 7-5 win in the opener against Oscar Wight. After dropping the second set, 6-4, Ross trailed 3-2 in the third when the entire match was called when Pacific claimed its fifth team point. In the conference tournament, the match ends once the clinching point is made. Ross, a senior along with Daniel Hahm, ends the year with a 9-4 record.
Hahm lost 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to Chris Dalton in the fifth position, dropping his overall record to 12-8 this season. Hahm had been 8-1 in his last nine matches.
After the pair combined for the Pios only doubles win, 8-6, over Brennan Faith and Clark Wininger, Brendan Barrows (12-6) fell 6-3, 6-1 to Josh Bernstein at No. 6, while Gordon Barrows (6-10) was defeated 7-5, 6-2 by Wininger at second position. Freshman Raed Attia ended his inagural season with an 8-8 record, keeping at .500 after a 4-6, 6-3, 4-3 unfinished match to Faith.
Ross and Collins lost 8-3 to Dalton and Wight, while Pim Trouerbach and Keane Hindle dropped an 8-4, No. 3 spot match to Mulhern and Bernstein.
Pacific will meet No. 1 seed Whitman in the NWC Championship final on Sunday after Whitman defeated No. 4 Whitworth, 5-0.
