PORTLAND, Ore. – Buoyed by victories in the No. 3 doubles match and the last four singles slots, the George Fox University Bruins won their Northwest Conference women's tennis opener with a scintillating 5-4 triumph over the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers Friday afternoon here at the L&C Tennis Dome.

Lewis & Clark got off to a strong start by taking the top two doubles, the Pios' Claudia Lew and Makena McCluskey defeating the Bruins' Alyssa Emoto and Chantelle Hadeed 8-6 at No. 1, and Olivia Sweetman and Gillian Lowe downing Taylor Barnes and Krista Rey 9-7 at No. 2.  The Bruins salvaged the No. 3 doubles point when Megan Dahlberg and Ali Diehl dropped Allison Schneider and Esa Grigsby 8-3.

The Pios appeared well on their way to victory when Lew topped Emoto 6-1, 7-5 at No. 1 singles and Sweetman split with Hadeed before winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2.  The Bruins refused to roll over, however, rallying behind Barnes over Lowe 6-2, 7-5 at No. 3, Rey over McCluskey 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4, Dahlberg over Schneider 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5, and Diehl clinching the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Grigsby at No. 6.

The Bruins improved to 2-0 on the season, the first time since the program began in 1996 that they have ever won their first two matches, and 1-0 in the conference.  The 2004 Bruins started the year 2-1 and the 2002 team began 3-1, but in each of those seasons, they lost either the first or second match.  The Pioneers dropped to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the NWC.

NEXT: George Fox plays on its home courts for the first time this season when the Bruins host Pacific University in a conference match Sunday at 12:00 noon … Lewis & Clark visits Pacific Lutheran University Saturday at 1:00 p.m. for an NWC match.