McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Evening their
early-season Northwest Conference record at 1-1, the visiting
George Fox University Bruins scored a decisive 8-1 victory over
their Yamhill County rivals, the Linfield College Wildcats, in a
men's tennis match Friday evening here at the Linfield Tennis
Center's indoor courts.
Linfield took the No. 1 singles match as Cody Levien and Zach
Lyons doubled up the Bruins' Justin McClain and Peter Brown
8-4, but the rest of the contest belonged to the Bruins.
Shawn Aldrich and David Munoz evened the match at No. 2 doubles
with an 8-4 win over Micah Roos and Luke Kleinman, and Preston Mann
and Drew Milton whitewashed Ben Brewer and Joel Trousdale 8-0 at
No. 3 to put the Bruins in front.
Mann pulled out a hard-fought 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win for the Bruins
at No. 1 singles over Levien, but the Bruins cruised through the
remaining matches with no more than two losses in any set.
Aldrich tamed Lyons 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2; McClain routed Roos 6-0, 6-0
at No. 3; Milton conquered Kleinman 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4; Munoz beat
Brewer 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5; and Brown topped Trousdale 6-0, 6-1 at
No. 6.
“It was a decisive, sometimes even dominating performance
by the Bruins,” noted George Fox coach Neal Ninteman.
“We played a solid match from top to bottom against a team we
have always had trouble with, and I think it shows the rapid
improvement these guys are making.”
The Bruins even won two additional non-counting matches that
were played for practice as Collin Hammagren downed Chris Colvin
6-1, 6-0, and Ben Fullhart overcame Bryce Borland 6-2, 6-3.
George Fox improved to 2-3 overall with its second straight win
after three season-opening losses against an NCAA Division I and
two nationally-ranked Division III opponents. Linfield fell
to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
NEXT: George Fox will play the second of three
Division I opponents on the schedule when the Bruins visit Portland
State University at the Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.,
Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ... Linfield hosts Lewis & Clark College
Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in a conference match.
