PORTLAND, Ore.  While the day wasn't a clean sweep for Whitman's men's tennis team, their Saturday performances at the ITA/Oracle Division III Men's Northwest Regional did position the Blues with the opportunity to earn a sweep of the main singles and doubles draws.

Whitman advanced six of its 10 singles players into the quarterfinal round during Saturday action at Portland Community College-Rock Creek, and late Saturday pushed two into the semifinal round.

Still kicking after round of 16 wins Saturday were seeded players Ben Kirsh, Daniel Foster, Gary Ho, Robert Carter, Alex Hwang and Adam Rapoport.

Carter, Foster, Ho and Kirsh each won out in straight sets during the round of 16, while Hwang and Rapoport battled to three-set victories.

Among the surprises of the day was top seed Zach Hewlin falling out of the tournament with a taut 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 loss to George Fox University's Will Leach.

The other non-Whitman player in the quarters was the draws second seed, Spencer Watanabe of Fox, who defeated the Blues' Rajul Chikkalingaiah in straight sets.

The quarterfinal round was completed late Saturday and saw Foster take a three-set match from Carter to advance into the semifinals, along with Kirsh who downed Hwang in straight sets. Leach defeated Rapoport to advance, and Watanabe beat Ho to move ahead.

The semis on Sunday will pit Leach against Foster, and Kirsh against Watanabe. The winners will advance into the championship match will should take place approximately one hour after the latest of the two semifinal matches.

The morning started with six Whitman doubles pairing still in the main draw. Three -- Trevor Fennessy and Hwang; Ho and Rapoport; and Hewlin and Carter -- advanced into the quarterfinals where only Hewlin and Carter pushed forward into the semifinals.

The third-seeded duo defeated No. 2 seed Alex Namba and Watanabe, 8-5, in those semis to advance into the championship match Sunday against top seeds Gordon and Brenden Barrows from tournament hosts Lewis & Clark College.

Regional victors in singles and doubles earn ITA All-America recognition and automatically advance into the National Small College Oracle Cup in Rome, Georgia, on October 11-15.