Men's Tennis | 4/25/2015 6:16:00 PM
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The first of Saturday's two semifinal matches of the Northwest Conference 2015 Men's Tennis Tournament went quickly as host, top seed and 15th-ranked Whitman College took down fourth-seed Lewis & Clark College by a 5-0 score under the afternoon sunlight on the Whitman Tennis Courts.
Whitman (20-5) surrendered a total of just four games to the Pioneers (8-9) in doubles action as the three Missionary tandems swept the visitors.
First to finish was the 3-doubles pairing of
Robert Carter and
Petar Jivkov which won its third consecutive outing with Saturday's 8-0 dusting of L&C's Harrison Collins and Daniel Hahm.
Toss a coin to see which one finished next as the top two teams for Whitman both rolled to 8-2 wins.
All-Americans
Colton Malesovas and
James Rivers, the seventh-ranked pairing in Intercollegiate Tennis Association's West region, took care of Gordon Barrows and Pim Trouerbach, the ITA West's 11th-ranked duo, at No. 1 and
Zach Hewlin and
Jake Hoeger defeated the Pioneers' Michael Brewer and Kevin Ross at 2-doubles.
Needing only two more points to clinch the semifinal victory and move into the tournament's championship match Sunday afternoon the Missionaries added those points with little trouble.
Hoeger dominated Barrows, 6-2 and 6-0, at No. 6 followed by Malesovas' fast victory, 6-0 and 6-1, over Brewer at No. 1.
Whitman's four other singles players were left on the court with unfinished business, but Hewlin, Jivkov and
Chase Friedman were up a set in their matches while
Phillip Locklear was heading to a 12th game in his first set at No. 3.
Sunday's championship match, and its accompanying automatic bid into the NCAA Division III national tournament, begins at 12 p.m. on the Whitman Courts with the Missionaries set to play the winner of the second semifinal between second seed Pacific (Ore.) University and third-seeded George Fox University.
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