CLAREMONT, Calif. – The 18th-ranked Whitman College men's tennis team waded into the home territory of the No. 2 team in the nation, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, and wasn't able to pull off the upset, but the Missionaries did inflict a few wounds in the Stags' 7-2 non-conference win Thursday afternoon at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.

The defeat leaves the Whitties with an overall record of 8-5 while C-M-S climbs to 11-1.

Whitman's first point of the afternoon came at the top of the doubles ladder as Zach Hewlin and Phillip Locklear rattled off wins in the final three games of their 1-doubles bout against the Stags' top pairing. Trailing 6-5 the Missionaries duo pulled even then rolled up two more wins to complete their come-back and take an 8-6 win.

The other Whitman point came in straight sets at 6-singles. Adam Rapoport broke in front with a 6-4 opening set victory, then never trailed in the clinching set, closing out his win from a 4-3 lead by taking the final two games.

Locklear had his own battle at No. 2 singles, rallying back from a 5-1 deficit in the opening set with three consecutive wins before surrendering a 6-4, 6-3 decision.

One spot below, at 3-singles, Whitman's Chase Friedman went into overtime in his first set. He dropped a game at 4-4 to edge perilously close to defeat only to find the equalizer to pull back even at 5-5. The same scenario repeated itself, falling behind 6-5 then rallying to tie again at 6-6, allowing Friedman to force the set into a tiebreaker. Unfortunately he would fall behind early, 4-2, and was unable to recover in the 7-2 tiebreaker loss. Friedman gritted out the second set but, like Locklear, he too dropped a 6-3 decision to his C-M-S opponent.

Whitman's spring break stay in California faces another challenge in its next match, Saturday morning at No. 15 University of Redlands. The Missionaries' trip concludes Sunday with a match against No. 22 Tufts University back at the Biszantz Tennis Center.