WHITTIER, Calif.  The clinching came quickly Monday afternoon as Whitman swept the first six matches that hit the Richard Ettinger Tennis Courts at Whittier College.

The 11th-ranked Blues (8-2) eventually closed out the first match of their spring break trip with a 7-2 victory over the host Poets (1-4).

In a sweep of the three doubles matches, Whitman's pairings allowed Whittier to steal a combined total of five games.

Once singles play began it was a race to record the fourth and then clinching fifth point, a battle that ended in a dead heat when Zach Hewlin and Robert Carter put away the finishing points in their matches.

Hewlin downed Thomas Ksoszowski, 6-3 and 6-2, at No. 1 singles, and Carter dispatched Elmer Van Butselaar, 1 and 4, at the 4-singles slot.

Gary Ho finished off the six-match streak with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Hunter Kettering at No. 3.

The last Whitman point came at 5-singles from Daniel Foster who took the first set, 6-3, over Derek Okuhama then rallied with five straight games to take the second set, 7-5.

The Blues continue their trip with a neutral-site match in Claremont, California, Tuesday afternoon against ninth-ranked Amherst (Mass.) College.