ResultsFOREST GROVE, Ore. — Whitman rallied from behind in two of the doubles matches to sweep tandem play, setting the tone for a hard-fought 7-2 win over Pacific in men's tennis action on Friday afternoon at the Holce Tennis Complex.
The battle between the two unbeaten teams in Northwest Conference play went to the defending league champions, as No. 14 nationally ranked Whitman improved to 7-0 in the NWC and to 10-6 overall. Pacific fell to 14-3 on the season and to 8-1 in conference action.
The Missionaries came into the match ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III west region, while the Boxers are listed at No. 8.
"We gave it our all, but just let some key points get away from us," said Pacific head coach
Brian Jackson. "With a team as good as Whitman, you just can't do that."
All three doubles matches were about as close as they could be and four of the six singles tilts went three sets.
Doubles play was first on the docket, and a large sun-drenched crowed was treated to three intense, fiery matches .
On court one, Whitman's Zach Hewlin and Phillip Locklear, the number three ranked team in the west region, took a 5-2 lead over
Brennan Faith and
Clark Wininger. But the Boxer duo battled back to a 5-5 score before finally giving up the ghost, 8-6. Hewlin and Locklear are also ranked 14th nationally in NCAA Division III.
On court two,
Chris Dalton and
Oscar Wight held a 4-3 lead over Robert Carter and Jake Hoeger, only to see the Missionaries duo come back for an 8-6 win. In third doubles,
Josh Bernstein and
Reuben Mulhern were up 5-2 in the most fiery match of the day before Adam Rapoport and Gary Ho rallied for a stunning 9-8 (7-3) win to sweep doubles play.
For all three Boxer doubles teams, it was their first loss of the year in conference play.
In singles action, Wininger improved to 15-2 on the season with a win over Locklear (2-6, 6-3, 6-1). Locklear is ranked 16th in the west region and 34th nationally. Pacific also got a win at No. 4, with Mulhern rolling to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Rapoport.
Faith had No. 2 regionally ranked Hewlin on the ropes, winning the first set (6-3). But Hewlin, who is also ranked 19th nationally, rallied to take the next two sets (6-3, 6-4) for the match. Wight gave it a huge effort on court No. 3, rallying to win the second set before cramps made him almost immobile in the third set (6-2, 2-6, 6-1).
Dalton lost a hard-fought match to Carter at No. 5 (6-4, 6-4) and Bernstein lost a marathon to Ho on court six, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
"I was really proud of our guys' effort in singles, after a disappointing result in doubles," Jackson added. "We could have checked out, going down 3-0, when we just as easily could have been up 3-0, but the guys never gave up. I just think the doubles took too much out of us in the end. Cramps set in on three of the guys, and they didn't have enough to pull through."
The Boxers will have a short recovery time, traveling to Tacoma on Saturday to take on Pacific Lutheran at 1 p.m.
