WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Lewis & Clark College men's tennis fell to Whitman College 6-1 in Northwest Conference play on Sunday at Whitman Tennis Courts.
THE BASICS
Whitman 6, Lewis & Clark 1
Lewis & Clark (2-7, 2-3 NWC)
Whitman (5-1, 5-0 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Whitman swept doubles to take a 1-0 lead. At No. 1, Niklas Jensen and Alexander Stage defeated junior
Noah Sutin and first-year
Kaden Sigurdsson 6-1 in the first match to finish. Charles Rush and Artem Manov topped seniors
Wade McDermott and
Kai Wills by the same score at No. 2. Guillermo Rodriguez and Hanri Luo closed the round with a 6-2 win over senior
Spencer Loucks and sophomore
Arnav Bishnoi at No. 3.
Trailing 1-0 entering singles, Lewis & Clark fell further behind at No. 6, where Luo defeated junior
Max Furman 6-2, 6-3 in the first singles result of the afternoon. Jensen followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Wills at No. 2, and Rodriguez blanked Loucks 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 to clinch the team victory for the Blues.
At No. 1, Sutin kept the second set closer after dropping the first, but Stage closed it out 6-1, 7-5. Manov defeated McDermott 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3. McDermott stayed within a break in the opening set, but Manov pulled away in the second to push Whitman's lead to 6-0.
Junior
Bridger Galyardt earned Lewis & Clark's lone point at No. 5 singles in the final match of the afternoon. Galyardt defeated Charles Boyden 7-6 (11-9), 6-0, winning a tight first-set tiebreaker before taking the second set without dropping a game.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Galyardt's straight-set win at No. 5 was his first career victory at the position and his second career NWC dual win.
- Sutin dropped his first NWC match of the season and is 4-1 in conference play.
- The River Otters used three new doubles pairings, with each duo competing together for the first time this season.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark hosts Pacific University on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the L&C Tennis Dome.
