LEWISTON, Idaho Whitman College's eighth-ranked men's tennis team won its eighth and ninth consecutive matches, downing San Diego Christian College, 5-2, and host Lewis-Clark State, 6-1, Sunday in non-conference matches at the Lewis-Clark Tennis Center.
The Blues have bounded up the rankings since spending much of the winter just outside the top 20. During the spring schedule they have defeated four teams that were ranked on the dates of the matches -- No. 9 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, No. 20 Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College, No. 26 Swarthmore (Pa.) College and No. 28 Christopher Newport (Va.) University. Sunday's sweep of the Hawks and then the Warriors of LCSC improved Whitman's season record to 12-2.
Rajul Chikkalingaiah,
Daniel Foster and
Jake Hoeger were each a part of three points Sunday. Chikkalingaiah won singles matches each day and added a doubles point, with
Adam Rapoport, against Lewis-Clark State; Foster also won at singles in each match and teamed with Hoeger in a 2-doubles victory against San Diego Christian; and Hoeger added a doubles win and singles victory in the late match against LCSC.
Winning twice in singles play for Whitman was
Alex Hwang who both times earned straight-set victories at No. 6.
Trevor Fennessy picked up points in both singles and doubles against the Warriors, and
Adam Rapoport added a singles point in the early match and a doubles win with Chikkalingaiah in the late one.
The No. 1 doubles pairing of
Zach Hewlin and
Petar Jivkov came through with identical 7-6 triumphs on the day.
The upcoming weekend brings about a non-conference match Friday at Seattle University followed by a jump back into Northwest Conference competition Saturday at Linfield College and Sunday at Lewis & Clark College.
