Results

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Pacific won two of three doubles matches to set the tone for a Northwest Conference Tournament semi-final victory over Lewis & Clark on Saturday at the Whitman Tennis Courts, advancing to the title match with a 5-2 victory.

The Boxers will take on host and ten-time defending champion Whitman on Sunday at 10 a.m., who defeated Whitworth earlier in the day, 5-0.

The victory for the Boxers, who are now 18-3 on the season, marked the second time this season that they have defeated the Pioneers--despite the fact the L&C is ranked sixth in the NCAA Division III west region and Pacific is eighth. Lewis & Clark is also ranked 30th nationally, while the Boxers list 33rd.

Pacific nearly made it a clean sweep of doubles play, which would have put the match nearly out of reach before singles even started.

Oscar Wight and Chris Dalton won quickly on court two (8-3) and Reuben Mulhern and Josh Bernstein wrapped things up next at No. 3 doubles, 8-4. The longest match took place on court one, where the brother tandem of Gordon and Brendan Barrows of the Pioneers outlasted Brennan Faith and Clark Wininger, 8-6.

That took play to the singles courts, where Bernstein quickly made it a 3-1 Boxer lead with a 6-3, 6-1 victory on court six. But the Pioneers climbed back to 3-2 with a straight sets win at No. 4 when Harrison Collins took down Mulhern, 6-2, 6-0.

On court two, Wininger pushed his singles win streak to 13 matches with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Gordon Barrows to make it 4-2, Boxers. Wininger is now 17-2 on the season.

Needing just one more victory to secure the match, Pacific got it when Dalton went three sets to top Daniel Hahm, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. In the NCAA tournament format, the remaining two matches were not completed--although Faith had a 4-3 lead in the third set over Raed Attia and Wight was one game ahead of Kevin Ross in the third set, 3-2.

"Another really great effort, in a season full of them by these guys," said head coach Brian Jackson. "We get another shot tomorrow at the champions, we couldn't ask for any more than that."

Earlier this season, Whitman defeated Pacific in Forest Grove (7-2), but nearly all the matches were extremely close. Whitman is ranked fifth in the west region.