PORTLAND, Ore.—Four Lewis & Clark men's tennis underclassmen went 2-0, to lead the Pioneers to a win in their spring and dual match opener on Friday night at the L&C Tennis Dome. 

THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 7, University of Puget Sound 2
(Lewis & Clark 1-0) 
(Puget Sound 0-2) 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Sophomores Wade McDermott, Landon Cronin and Kai Wills and freshman Joey Lyon all went 2-0 to lead the Pioneers to a win in their first competition of the 2024 season. 
 
The Pioneers won two of three doubles matches to open play on Friday and won each of the bottom five singles matches in the lineup to easily dispatch their conference foe. 
 
Lewis & Clark opened the match with a dominant 8-2 win at second doubles. Wills and Cronin easily dispatched Will Church and Brayden Sawyer. 
 
The Pioneers made it 2-0 at number one doubles, when McDermott and Lyon combined for an 8-5 victory. 
 
Puget Sound denied Lewis & Clark the sweep with a tiebreak win at third doubles. Jason Rowe and Carson Ward barely edged freshman Noah Sutin and senior Miles Stone 8-7 (7-3). 
 
The Loggers would briefly tie the match at 2-2, when Rowe earned a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Sutin at number one singles. 
 
Junior Matt Chio would give the Pioneers the lead back for good at second singles. Chio defeated Noah Henderson 6-4, 6-4 to make it 3-2 Lewis & Clark. 
 
Lyon completed his first dual match with a 2-0 record after winning at fourth singles. He cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Church to put the Pioneers within a point of clinching the match victory. 
 
That honor would go to Wills at third singles. After a competitive first set 7-6 (7-1), Wills easily dispatched Ward 6-2 in the second set to make it 5-2 Lewis & Clark. 
 
McDermott kept the momentum going with a 6-2, 6-1 win at fifth singles. 
 
Cronin capped off the victory with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Mattthew Zou at sixth singles. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Friday's match was the first in a series of non-conference matchups against Northwest Conference teams, before conference play begins in March. 
• Lyon and Sutin were each making their dual match collegiate debuts on Friday. 
• Five Pioneers earned wins in the victory. 
• Lewis & Clark extended their winning streak to 14-straight matches over the Loggers. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will have a quick turnaround, as they host Linfield University on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.