SPOKANE, Wash. - Played as a non-conference match between Northwest Conference opponents, the Whitman College men's tennis team fell at Whitworth, 5-4, on Monday afternoon at Scotford Tennis Center.
The Blues (1-6) had a solid showing in singles but were already behind the eight ball after dropping all three doubles matches. The first to fall was at two doubles when the Whitman pair of Harshvardhan Chopra and Diego Guzman lost 8-5. Luca Viarengo and Chris O'Farrill lost at the two but the Blues had an excellent shot at salvaging a point on the No. 1 court. Artem Manov and Charles Rush came up just short, however, dropping an 8-7 (4) tiebreaker as the Bucs took a three-point lead into singles.
Manov and Chopra kept the Blues alive with favorable results early in singles play. Manov topped Payton Romey at the one, 6-0, 6-4 and Chopra used a second-set tiebreak win at third singles to sweep Ethan Warring 6-3, 7-6 (5).
The next two results clinched the win for the Bucs. Guzman rallied from a set down on the No. 2 court in an effort to tie the match, but fell to Nathan Tjelle 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-1.
Viarengo and O'Farrill recorded solid wins via sweeps at the five and six, respectively, with the match result already in the books.
The Blues will have nearly two weeks off before opening conference play against these very same Pirates on Saturday, March 2. Start time at the Whitman Tennis Courts is set for 2:00 p.m.
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