Men's Tennis Bows Out In Hard Fought NWC Tourney Final
Box ScoreWALLA WALLA, Wash. – Pacific knew coming in that beating perennial Northwest Conference power would be a challenge.
In the end, even the Boxers' best game was not enough to dethrone the conference champions on their home courts Saturday as the Boxers fell 5-0 to the Missionaries in the NWC Tournament Final at the Whitman Outdoor Courts.
"It was a tough day for us, but I couldn't be prouder of how hard our guys fought," said Pacific Head Coach
Brian Jackson. "We knew we were going to have to play our best, but we just didn't have it today. It certainly wasn't due to a lack of effort, though. My hat is off to (Whitman Coach Jeff) Northup and the Whitman players. They showed great fight and proved to be the better team today."
With the loss, Pacific concluded their season with an impressive 15-4 record. Whitman improved to 17-3 overall and claimed the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship.
Pacific gave Whitman a run in the doubles as the top two flights battled in a pair of close matches. After James Rivers and Steven Roston gave Whitman the 1-0 lead with an 8-4 victory over
Josh Bernstein (Fr., Novato, Calif.) and
Clark Wininger (Fr., San Francisco, Calif.) at No. 3, Colton Malesovas and Andrew La Cava battled though to take an 8-6 win at No. 1 from
Troy Zuroske (Sr., Richland, Wash.) and
Giancarlo Battaglia (Jr., Sherman Oaks, Calif.).
The Boxers' dynamic No. 1 duo finished their season with a 7-5 record and retire as one of the most dominant doubles teams in Pacific history.
Jake Hoeger and Andy Riggs finished off the doubles sweep for Whitman in another battle at No. 2, knocking off
Brennan Faith (Fr., Redondo Beach, Calif.) and
Grayson Frazier (Jr., La Canada, Calif.) 8-6.
"We had some really close battles in doubles that could have gone either way," Jackson said. "A couple of points here or there and we could be looking at a different results. Going down 3-0 to a talented team like Whitman was just too much to overcome."
With the doubles advantage, Whitman was able to make easy work of the lower flights to claim the match. Petar Jivkov claimed a 6-2, 6-0 win over Bernstein at No. 4 and Rivers closed the match with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Frazier at No. 5. By tournament rules, the remaining four matches went unfinished.
The match proved to be the last for Zuroske and
Alen Suklje (Jr., Beaverton, Ore.), who will be graduating next month. "A special thanks and congratulations to Troy and Alen for four wonderful years with the program," Jackson said. "We will miss the effort and fight they brought to the courts every day, but plan to continue building the program they have developed."
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