SPOKANE, Wash. – Lewis & Clark College men's tennis earned a convincing 5-2 Northwest Conference road victory over Whitworth University on Saturday, capturing its 13th win of the season at Scotford Tennis Center.
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 5, Whitworth 2
(Lewis & Clark 13-4, 10-3 NWC)
(Whitworth 5-14, 3-9 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Juniors
Wade McDermott and
Kai Wills joined sophomore
Joey Lyon with perfect 2-0 records on the day to lead the Pioneers in the win. First-year
Arnav Bishnoi added his ninth NWC win of the season in singles play over the Pirates.
Whitworth started the day by capturing the No. 3 doubles match, where Colby Cinqmars and Lance Dunn edged out senior
Matt Chio and junior
Spencer Loucks, 6-3. However, the Pioneers quickly rallied, winning the remaining two doubles matches with matching 6-3 scores to clinch the doubles point.
McDermott and Wills sparked Lewis & Clark's comeback, defeating Matt Hossack and Easton Weir at No. 2 doubles. Lyon and sophomore
Noah Sutin then tied a program record with their 10th Northwest Conference doubles victory of the season, topping Ryan Ashley and Matthew Morrison at the top doubles position.
In singles play, Whitworth briefly evened the match as Ashley defeated Sutin 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. The momentum swung back quickly to Lewis & Clark when Bishnoi decisively defeated Cinqmars 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 5 singles match.
Wills continued to build the lead with a solid 6-2, 6-4 victory at sixth singles over Dunn, pushing the Pioneers ahead 3-1. McDermott then sealed the team victory, rolling past Weir 6-0, 6-4 at the No. 3 singles spot.
Lyon added another highlight to his day, closing out the scoring for Lewis & Clark with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Morrison at No. 1 singles.
Whitworth's final point came in the day's concluding match, where Hossack earned a hard-fought 6-3, 6-4 victory against Chio at fourth singles.
BY THE NUMBERS
- McDermott continued his exceptional singles form, extending his winning streak to eight matches. He is now 10-2 in NWC matches and 20-3 overall this season.
- Lyon and Sutin previously broke the program record for doubles wins by a team and have now matched the individual single-season record for Northwest Conference doubles wins with 10 each.
- The Pioneers extended their winning streak against Whitworth to 15 consecutive matches.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark wraps up the regular season on Sunday, visiting Whitman in Walla Walla at 11 a.m.
