POMONA, Calif. – Day 1 of the ultra-competitive Stag-Hen Invitational was a rough one for 15th-ranked Whitman College as the Missionaries dropped their morning quarterfinal match, 6-3, to No. 6 Trinity (Texas) University then were back on court in less than 90 minutes to start a consolation-round match against 12th-ranked Case Western Reserve University in which it was defeated by a 7-2 score. Both matches were played at the Pauley Tennis Center on the campus of Pomona-Pitzer University.

Whitman saw its record fall to 10-3 with the pair of losses. Trinity, which had been ranked No. 1 in the March 3 Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national poll, improved to 10-4, and Case Western lifted its season mark to 9-7.

The Stag-Hen, hosted by No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and No. 9 Pomona-Pitzer, includes five teams from within the ITA's March 12 top-5, two more within the top-15, and 34th-ranked Wesleyan (Conn.) University.

Colton Malesovas and James Rivers secured Whitman's first point in the match against Trinity, taking their No. 1 doubles match, 9-8 (5) against the Tigers' Jordan Mayer and Aaron Skinner. The Missionaries next point didn't come until James Rivers swept Trinity's Chas Mayer, 6-4 and 6-4, at 6-singles, though. Petar Jivkov recorded the other win for Whitman, rallying from a first-set loss to Clayton Niess at No. 4 with a pair of 7-5 set victories.

The first Whitman point in the Case Western match also came in doubles action with Zach Hewlin and Jake Hoeger teaming up for a taut 9-8 win at No. 2 over the Spartans' Will Drougas and Viswajit Simhadri. The other win for Whitman was at 5-singles where Gary Ho defeated Case's Bas van Lent in three sets -- 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (7).

Saturday's results push Whitman into the seventh-place match Saturday against eighth-ranked Kenyon (Ohio) College.