WALLA WALLA, Wash. – It took less than three hours for Whitman College's men's tennis team to sweep its way past visiting Whitworth University under the lights of the Whitman Tennis Courts Tuesday as the Missionaries rolled to a 9-0 Northwest Conference victory over the Pirates, enabling Whitman to claim a season sweep coupled with a March 7 victory on Whitworth's home courts.

The 15th-ranked Missionaries (14-5, 8-0 NWC) remained unbeaten in league play with Tuesday's victory while the Pirates dropped to 3-9 overall and 3-5 in the conference.

All three Whitman doubles pairings made quick work of their Whitworth opponents under the dwindling light of day. Colton Malesovas and James Rivers at 1-doubles and Jake Hoeger and Zach Hewlin at No. 2 won their respective matches, 8-0, without surrendering a game. The 3s, Robert Carter and Petar Jivkov, were extended only a little more, downing Whitworth's Caleb Hughes and Drew Adams by an 8-3 count. The win at No. 3 lifts Carter's doubles record to 9-3 for the season while Jivkov's improves to 8-4.

Five of the six singles matches were straight-set sweeps. At No. 1 Malesovas dropped only four games, Phillip Locklear at No. 4 and Rivers at No. 6 surrendered just three games, Hoeger allowed only five games to slip away and Zach Hewlin walked away having only dropped a single game at No. 2.

Jivkov was on the clock the longest of the Missionaries' sextet. He and Whitworth's Shane Sandlin split the first two sets but Jivkov bounced back from his second-set loss to take the super-tiebreak third set by a count of 10-6.

Whitman continues its late-season home stretch against NWC opponents with a match Saturday at 1 p.m. against visiting Willamette University, and an 11 a.m. Sunday contest against Pacific (Ore.) University.