NEWBERG, Ore.  With Saturday afternoon's 9-0 win at George Fox University, the 15th-ranked Whitman men's tennis team move to within reach of the Northwest Conference regular season title, a feat that comes with the reward of hosting the league's postseason tournament on April 22-23.

The Blues (21-6, 11-0 NWC) rolled through the doubles matches to shut down the tandems of the Bruins (9-8, 7-5), including the All-American combo of Alex Namba and Spencer Watanabe.

Playing for the first time together, Whitman's Robert Carter and Trevor Fennessy added the third doubles point for the Blues with their 8-6 victory over Namba and Watanabe at the No. 1 doubles slot.

The other two Whitman pairings were each teamed up for only their second time in playing together. All-American Zach Hewlin paired with Rajul Chikkalingaiah for an 8-3 win at 2-doubles, while Gary Ho and Daniel Foster shortly thereafter picked up the second team point with their 8-2 triumph at No. 3.

Alex Hwang added the fourth Whitman point of the afternoon with his straight-set shutout (6-0, 6-0) win at No. 5 singles, which was followed by Foster's two-set win at No. 4.

Ho at 3-singles picked up a win next, followed by Carter at 2 in straight sets, and Hewlin at No. 1 in three sets.

Chikkalingaiah made it a clean sweep for Whitman with his two-set victory at No. 6.

Whitman plays at Pacific (Ore.) University Sunday afternoon and even in defeat the Blues could clinch the league title. If the Blues take two points from the Boxers then Whitman would earn the season point within the mathematical formulae used in the conference's 'championship standings.' Earlier in the season the Blues downed Pacific by a score of 8-1.

The four teams advancing into the NWC postseason have already been decided, though. Whitman and Lewis & Clark College are the (likely) Nos. 1 and 2 seeds while Pacific sits in third and George Fox is in fourth.