Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College men's tennis extended their winning-streak to a season-high three matches with a 9-0 blanking of visiting University of Puget Sound on Sunday at the L&C Tennis Dome. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 9, Puget Sound 0
(Lewis & Clark 5-9, Northwest Conference 3-2) 
(Puget Sound 4-8, Northwest Conference 2-5) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Seven different Pioneers earned victories to help Lewis & Clark earn their third-straight regular-season victory and fifth-straight including exhibition matches. 
 
Senior Kristian Peev and freshman Wade McDermott opened the match with a dominant 8-2 win over Mike Smolskis and Rene Del Barco. 
 
Sophomore Matt Chio and freshman Kai Wills made it 2-0, when they knocked off Will Church and Brayden Sawyer 8-3 at second doubles.  
 
The Pios completed the doubles sweep at number three doubles. Senior Alberto Dos Santos and freshman Landon Cronin dispatched Matthew Merzbach and David Lybeck 8-4. 
 
Peev took no time at number one singles to make it 4-0. The Pios senior captain cruised past Smolskis 6-1, 6-1 to make it 4-0. 
 
Chio secured the match victory at third singles. He just missed blanking Conor Blakeney in a 6-1, 6-0 victory. 
 
McDermott made it 6-0, when the freshman earned a comeback 4-6, 6-2, 11-9 win over Sawyer at fourth singles. 
 
Dos Santos tacked on a 7-5, 6-4 win over Church to push the Pioneers advantage to 7-0. 
 
Junior Miles Stone posted a dominating performance at sixth singles. He blanked Lybeck 6-0, 6-0 in the second-to-last match of the day. 
 
Wills completed the sweep at fifth singles. He took the first set off Merzbach 6-1, before prevailing 7-5 in the second set to win 6-1, 7-5. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• After an 0-7 start to the season, Lewis & Clark has gone 5-2 in countable matches and 7-2 in all of their competition. 
• Dos Santos earned his first Northwest Conference singles win of the season (1-3). 
• Peev picked up his team-leading 10^th singles win, 10^th doubles win and 20^th overall win of the season. He is riding a 10-match winning streak (5-0 in singles and doubles). 
• McDermott and Peev improved to 4-1 in NWC play and have now won five-straight doubles matches. 
• The Pioneers extended their winning streak to 13 in a row over Puget Sound. The streak dates back to March 8, 2013. Lewis & Clark has won nine of the 13 matches by 9-0 scores. 
• Men's Tennis heads into the final week of the regular season with a 4-2 mark in Northwest Conference play after their cancelled match against Pacific Lutheran University. The Pioneers currently sit in fourth in the NWC but will need one win in their final two matches to avoid finishing in a three-way tie fourth and needing a tiebreaker to get into the four-team Northwest Conference Tournament.  

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will host Linfield University (3-4 NWC) on Saturday at 11 a.m. in a pivotal NWC matchup. The contest is the Pioneers final home match of the 2022-23 season and is their Senior Day Match. Prior to the match, Lewis & Clark will honor their seniors.