PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College men's tennis fought to earn a point against Whitman College as five singles matches went three sets, but the Blues prevailed 9-0 in Northwest Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
Whitman 9, Lewis & Clark 0
(Lewis & Clark 6-4, 1-2 NWC)
(Whitman 3-8, 2-0 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lewis & Clark fell behind 3-0 after doubles play before going three sets in five of the six singles matches.
Junior
Matt Chio and sophomore
Kai Wills lost number three doubles 8-2 to Braeden Thomas and Noah Baker to start the day. Freshman
Noah Sutin and sophomore
Landon Cronin finished soon after, losing 8-2 to Cameron Yang and Lucas Huang in second doubles.
In the first doubles flight, freshman
Joey Lyon and sophomore
Wade McDermott played a closer match against #10 regionally ranked Artem Manov and Charles Rush. The Pioneers dropped the match 8-4 to the Blues.
Sutin took on the #16 regionally ranked singles player in the west region in Yang at number one singles. Sutin and Yang split the first two sets, but Yang took the match 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
The Blues secured the dual win at number two singles as Wills fell to Huang 6-4 7-6 (7-2). The second flight was the only match not to go three sets, but it was one of four sets with a tiebreaker.
Chio took the second set from Manov before losing 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the third singles.
Lyon lost the first set 6-2 and was down 5-2 in the second set to Thomas in the fourth flight before fighting back for a 7-6 (7-1) win in the second set. Thomas won the third set 6-2.
McDermott beat Luca Viarengo 7-6 (8-6) in the first set of number five doubles before losing 6-4, 10-4 in the final two sets.
Senior
Miles Stone dropped the first set of number six singles in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5). He then defeated Alejandro Raffo 6-3 in the second set before losing the third set 10-point super tiebreaker 10-4.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Sutin is the only Pioneer to play a nationally-ranked and regionally-ranked opponent this season.
- McDermott has played the most three-set matches on the team and is 4-4 this season.
- The Pioneers won four of their final five matches after losing to Whitman last season.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark hosts Whitworth University in the L&C Tennis Dome on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m.