TACOMA, Wash. – Evening their overall
record at 2-2 and improving to 2-0 in the Northwest Conference, the
George Fox University Bruins, ranked No. 11 in the NCAA Division
III West Region, swept the University of Puget Sound Loggers 9-0 in
men's tennis action Sunday afternoon here at the UPS indoor
courts.
The Bruins jumped out to an early lead by sweeping the Loggers
in doubles. Justin McClain and Peter Brown led the way with an 8-3
victory over Graham Baker and Jake Peterson at No. 2. Soon after,
Shawn Aldrich and Chris Lilley dispatched Michael Cutter and Daniel
Deuel 8-4 at No. 1, and Matt Deming and Chace Stalcup sealed the
doubles sweep with a 9-7 win over Abe Noyes and John Stevens.
Moving to singles play, the Bruins again jumped out quickly,
dropping no more than three games in each of the first sets.
Preston Mann was the first off the court, making swift work of
Peterson 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4. Following in equally impressive fashion
was Drew Milton, who silenced Noyes 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 and clinched
the team victory for the Bruins.
Lilley finished next and continued his winning streak of three
straight singles matches by handling Baker 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3.
McClain was next, knocking off Cutter 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1, followed
soon after by Aldrich, who beat Deuel 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2.
The match of the day came at No. 6 singles where Stalcup
overcame a stingy Stevens. Stalcup won the first sset 6-1 but
dropped the second 4-6, setting up a deciding third-set tiebreaker.
Stalcup jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Stevens came fighting back
to bring the score to 7-8,but that was as close as the Logger would
get as Stalcup persevered in his NWC singles debut in dramatic
fashion, 10-7.
"It was great to see Chace hold off a ferocious comeback today
at 6 and power through a tight tiebreaker," said Stalcup's
teammate Milton.
Following the match, Bruin head coach Neil Ninteman said, "After
starting down 1-2 to Whitworth yesterday, I really challenged our
guys to come out strong today in doubles. The guys answered the
charge by dominating in each match."
Assistant coach Darin McClain also commented, "We challenged the
guys to make a statement today and they did that. Every player took
care of business today and left no doubt about the outcome.
We're really proud of how hard our guys played today."
NEXT: George Fox (2-2, NWC 2-0) begins a
three-game weekend home stand Friday with Pacific Lutheran
University at 3:00 p.m. … Puget Sound (0-2, NWC 0-2) is off
until Friday, Mar. 1, when the Loggers will visit Whitman College
for a 4:00 p.m. match.
