NEWBERG, Ore. – Rallying to win five of six singles after dropping two of the doubles, the George Fox University Bruins opened the Northwest Conference portion of their men's tennis season with a 6-3 win over the Whitworth University Pirates Saturday in a match begun at the GFU campus courts and finished at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Beaverton.

The Pirates shanghaied the Bruins in the first and third doubles, Cameron Williams and Drew Brigham winning over the Bruins' Shawn Aldrich and Chris Lilley 8-2 at No. 1 and Matt Goebel and John Talbot overtaking Preston Mann and Drew Milton 8-3 at No.3.  The Bruins retaliated by taking the No. 2 doubles as Peter Brown and Justin McClain knocked off Chris Engelmann and Blake Miller by that same 8-3 score.

The second half of the Bruins' order cruised their matches in straight sets, but the top three was all close.  McClain prevailed over Williams 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6) at No. 1, and Lilley edged Engelmann 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 at No. 3.  The Pirates took the No. 2 singles as Brigham squeezed past Aldrich 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4.

Handling the remaining three matches comfortably, Mann handled Miller 6-0, 6-4 at No. 4; Milton took down Talbot 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5; and Brown beat Goebel 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6.

Team co-captain Mann said after the match, "I was incredibly proud of the way our team responded to our early deficit;  it was amazing to watch our guys respond to a fired-up Whitworth team with poise and tenacity." 

Added co-captain Aldrich, “Every match was competitive and every single Bruin fought extremely hard to pull off the win; I'm really proud of our guys."

George Fox entered the match ranked No. 11 in the NCAA Division III West Region while Whitworth entered with a No. 20 regional ranking.

NEXT: George Fox (1-2, NWC 1-0) visits the University of Puget Sound Sunday at 12:00 noon … Whitworth (1-5, NWC 1-1) is off until next Saturday, when the Pirates will host Pacific University at 10:00 a.m.