The Pacific University men's tennis team dropped a 5-3 decision to Lewis & Clark at the Northwest Conference Men's Tennis Tournament on Saturday in Walla Walla, Washington.
The Boxers end the season with an 11-8 mark with the loss; meanwhile, Lewis & Clark raises its record to 14-4 in the win as they advance to face host Whitman on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Pacific started the day with an 8-2 win by its doubles tandem of
Reuben Mulhern (Boise, Idaho) and
Josh Bernstein (Novato, Calif.) at No.2. The senior duo have won 10 of its last 11 matches en route to an 11-5 overall mark.
The next win came at No. 1 doubles with
Clark Wininger (San Francisco, Calif.) and
Oscar Wight (Adelaide, Australia) picking up an 8-5 win in a matchup of two regionally-ranked teams. The victory put the Boxers ahead 2-0 in the match. The win by Wininger and Wight was their team-leading 15
th win on the season.
Wins at No. 3 doubles and No. 4 singles by Lewis & Clark tied the match at 2 before Wininger put the Boxers back in front with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles. The win for Wininger improved his single-season record to 11-6 and 47-17 for his career.
Next, a win at No. 2 singles by the Pioneers evened the match at 3. Lewis & Clark took their first lead of the afternoon with a win at No. 5 singles.
The Boxers were not willing to concede to the nationally-ranked squad. The weather moved the matches indoors and the Boxers'
Rayden Murata (Honolulu, Hawaii) quickly responded. Murata came back from losing the first set to tie it at a set apiece with a 7-5 win in the second set to send it to a decisive third set. In the third set, Murata took an early 1-0 lead before his opponent rallied back and came back to post a 6-1 win and secure the victory for Lewis & Clark.
At the same time as Murata was battling at No. 6 singles for Pacific, Mulhern was engaged in a tight matchup at No. 3 singles. He won the opening set in a tiebreaker and tied at 6 in the second set when the match ended.
