TACOMA, Wash. - Playing No. 1 singles for the first time, Juan Munoz notched a well-played victory for George Fox University, but his teammates were unable to emulate that success as the Bruins dropped their final road match 7-2 to the University of Puget Sound in Northwest Conference men's tennis Saturday here at the UPS Tennis Pavilion.

Nick Kelley and Mike Cutter of UPS defeated Munoz and Nick Jenness 8-4 at No. 1 doubles to open the match, but the Bruins picked up a win at No. 2 as Scott Barnett and Pedro Munoz downed Sam Finkleman and Alex Harrison 8-5.  The Loggers collected the No. 3 point with an 8-5 victory, Scooter Sabel and Andrew Timmons downing Josh Williford and Luke Pritchard.

George Fox first-year coach Neal Ninteman elected to switch Munoz and Barnett, a Second Team All-NWC performer last season, at the No. 1 position in this contest because “Juan's been playing some of his best tennis lately, and I thought he was ready to step up and see if he could handle that level of competition.  He showed he could with some outstanding tennis today against one of the best No. 1's in the league.”

Dropping only one game in the entire match, Munoz cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Finkleman, but the rest of the Bruins could not follow his lead as the Loggers took the remaining five matches.  At No. 2, Cutter conquered Barnett 6-3, 6-3; Kelley downed Jenness 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3; Harrison handled Matthew Gardner 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4; Sabel sunk Pedro Munoz 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5; and Ben Miller beat Williford 6-0, 6-3 at No.6.

With the loss, George Fox fell to 5-14 overall and 2-12 in the conference, which mathematically eliminated the Bruins from any chance at the six-team NWC Tournament in Yakima, Wash., in two weeks.  Puget Sound, now in sixth place, improved to 5-9 overall and in the NWC.

George Fox concludes its season with two matches at home next weekend, starting with Linfield College on Friday at 3:00 p.m.  Puget Sound goes to Pacific Lutheran University Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.