By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Whitworth University won close matches at #1 singles and #1 doubles, as the Pirates defeated Willamette University, 9-0, in Northwest Conference men's tennis action on Saturday, March 24 at the Scotford Tennis Center. Whitworth moved to 2-9 on the season, 2-3 in the NWC. Willamette fell to 2-6 overall, 1-3 in the NWC.
At #1 doubles, Jake Bethards and Thomas Remington of Whitworth outscored Aaron Schechter (Jr., Seattle, WA/James A. Garfield HS) and Colin Fisher (So., Caldwell, ID/Thomas Jefferson Charter School) of Willamette, 8-5. In the top singles match, Bethards battled Schechter through two regular sets and a super tie-breaker played instead of a third set. Bethards prevailed in the opening set, 6-1, but Schechter won the second set, 6-4. Bethards earned a 10-5 win the super tie-breaker.
The win by Bethards and Remington at #1 doubled helped the Pirates take a 3-0 lead into the singles matches. At #2 doubles, Ben Behards and Kincaid Norris of Whitworth downed Gene Perle-Jones (So., Eugene, OR/North Eugene HS) and Owen Burcham (Fr., Portland, OR/Wilson HS), 8-0. At #3 doubles. Whitworth's team of Ian Fisher and Nick Hughes defeated Luke Hiserman (Fr., Monterey, CA/Pacific Grove HS) and David Liang (Fr., Beijing, China/Bellevue Christian School, Wash.), 8-2.
With the exception of Jake Bethard's win over Schechter, all of the other singles matches were won by the Pirates in straight sets. Ben Bethards held off Colin Fisher in two competitive sets, 6-3, 6-3 at #3 singles. At #6 singles, Hughes defeated Liang in the first set, 6-3, before take the match with a 6-1 win in the second set. Other winners in singles for Whitworth were Ian Fisher at #2 singles, Norris at #4 singles and Remington at #5 singles.
The Bearcats were scheduled to play an exhibition match at Community College of Spokane later on Saturday, followed by a Northwest Conference match at Whitman College on Sunday, March 25. The match at Whitman will be played in Walla Walla, Washington, starting at 10 a.m. (PDT).
