Men's Tennis | 5/9/2015 2:25:00 PM
BELLVILLE, Ill. – A sweep of the doubles matches quickly swung momentum in Whitman College's favor Saturday afternoon as it managed to finish off the shutout of Sewanee: University of the South (Tenn.) with two straight-set singles victories in a 5-0 second-round win at the NCAA 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship hosted by Washington (Mo.) University at the Kings Point Tennis Center.
The win pushes the 15th-ranked Missionaries (23-5) into the regional-round championship match Sunday at noon against fifth-ranked WashU which also advanced out of Saturday's second round with a shutout win over Carthage (Wis.) College. Sewanee, ranked 28th in the final regular-season Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll, closes out its season with a 16-6 mark after earning its third consecutive trip into the national tournament.
Zach Hewlin and
Jake Hoeger got the ball rolling for Whitman Saturday against the Tigers with a fast-paced 8-2 victory at 2-doubles over Sewanee's Eric Roddy and Blake Wilde. The Missionaries tandem never trailed in the match.
Robert Carter and
Petar Jivkov were almost as quick in securing a point for the Missionaries at No. 3 with their 8-3 win over Scott Gallimore and Davis Owen. As with Hewlin and Hoeger, the pairing of Carter and Jivkov also never trailed.
Colton Malesovas and
James Rivers exerted more effort than was needed on the other two courts as the Whitman pairing were behind 5-4 against the duo of Avery Schober and Connor Winkler at 1-singles. Three straight wins from Malesovas and Rivers flipped the table and added a third point for the Missionaries as they headed into singles play.
Whitman's deep roster that was utilized all season long to gain experience from the top of the ladder to the bottom was again on display Saturday as the two points needed in singles came from two players who didn't play in the doubles matches.
Phillip Locklear roared past Sewanee's Winkler at No. 3 with identical 6-1 wins to lift the Missionaries to the cusp of victory. It didn't take much longer for that clinching point to fall as
Chase Friedman raced past the Tigers' Owen with a 6-2, 6-2 win at 5-singles.
Gaining the final two points from Locklear and Friedman meant that eight different players contributed to the whitewash of the Tigers.
The outcome of the match was certainly tilted in Whitman's direction as along with Locklear and Friedman three others -- Hewlin at No. 2, Jivkov at No. 4 and Hoeger at No. 6 -- were all up one set and ahead or tied in their second sets.
The win over the Tigers was also Whitman's 11th straight, a string that includes the 2015 Northwest Conference tournament championship, a title the Missionaries have captured eight consecutive seasons.
Sunday's date against WashU sets up a rematch of the 2014 regional final, won by the Bears on their home courts last spring by a score of 5-2.
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