NEWBERG, Ore. – Led by Drew
Milton's dramatic 15-13 win over Michael Cutter in a
third-set tiebreaker, the George Fox University Bruins posted their
second straight 9-0 win as they blanked the visiting University of
Puget Sound Loggers in a Northwest Conference men's tennis
match Saturday afternoon here at the GFU campus courts.
The Bruins opened play by capturing all three doubles
matches. Preston Mann and Shawn Aldrich downed Ben Miller and
Cutter 8-3 at No. 1, Peter Brown and Justin McClain too an 8-2 win
over Jake Peterson and George Murphy at No. 2, and Milton and David
Munoz edged John Stevens and Abe Noyes 8-6 at No. 3.
With Mann and Aldrich, normally the Bruins' top two
singles players, being rested, the rest of the Bruins moved up, and
Milton's duel with Cutter at No. 2 turned into a
marathon. Cutter took the first set 6-4 before Milton evened
it with a 6-2 second-set win. The third-set tiebreaker, which
usually is the first player to win 10 points by two, went 10 extra
rallies before Milton prevailed 15-13.
The five other singles matches went to the Bruins in relatively
comfortable fashion. McClain manhandled Miller 6-0, 6-3 at
No. 1; Munoz broke Murphy 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3; Brown stopped Stevens
6-0, 6-1 at No. 4; Tweet eliminated Noyes 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5; and
Ben Fullhart topped Peterson 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6.
“Justin and Drew stepped up big to fill in at one and
two,” noted Bruin coach Neal Ninteman.
“Drew's battle at No. 2 was a classic! Ben was
playing in the lineup for the first time at No. 6 and had an
impressive win as well.”
George Fox is now 9-7 overall and 8-3 in the conference, with a
berth in the NWC Tournament already clinched. The Bruins are
one win away from tying their record for the most wins in a season,
the previous best coming with a 10-8 record in 1998. Puget
Sound fell to 1-14 overall and 1-10 in the NWC.
NEXT: George Fox ends conference play next
Saturday at Whitworth University with a 1:00 p.m. match ... Puget
Sound completes its season Friday with a 4:00 p.m. at home against
Linfield College.
