WALLA WALLA, Wash. - In a battle of the two
teams that have been in the Northwest Conference Tournament finals
each of the last two years, the Whitman College Missionaries proved
to be too much for the George Fox University Bruins and made off
with a 9-0 win Saturday afternoon here at the Bratton Tennis
Center.
Whitman, ranked 16th nationally in the NCAA Division III by the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association and 7th in the West Region,
improved to 3-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play. George
Fox, ranked 11th in the West Region, saw its record even out at 2-2
overall and drop to 2-1 in league action.
Starting with doubles, the Missionaries picked up wins at #3
doubles when All-American James Rivers and Steven Roston defeated
Mitchell Miyashiro and Nick Grafton 8-1. They followed that up with
an 8-2 victory at #1 doubles when Chris Lilley and Justin McClain
fell to All-Americans Andrew LaCava and Colton Malesovas. Down 2-0
early, George Fox needed some help from its number #2 pairing of
Chace Stalcup and Preston Mann. Trailing 7-6 in
the pro-set, Stalcup delivered several thundering serves to level
it at 7-7, but the Bruins were unable to hold on, dropping the next
two games and the match 9-79.
Shifting to singles play, George Fox picked up some momentum
when Stalcup picked off the first set at #4 singles against Petar
Jivkov, earning the set in a tiebreaker 7-4. Stalcup
continued his aggressive play in the second set but Jivkov would
not be denied, winning the second set 7-5. At this point, the
Bruins had already dropped matches at #3 singles and dogfights at
#1 and #2 singles, putting the Missionaries up 6-0. With a
ten-point tiebreak format in the third set, Fall ITA Tournament
finalist Jivkov was able to pull away, beating Stalcup 10-5.
On Stalcup's performance, teammate Chris Lilley said,
“Chace has worked so hard this past off-season, his hard work
really showed on the court today. He battled tough with one of the
best players in the conference today; we are all proud of what he
did out there.”
After Andy Tweet was bested at the #6 spot, the focus then
shifted to #5, where George Fox sophomore Mitchell Miyashiro found
himself in a grudge match with James Rivers. After dropping the
first set 4-6, Miyashiro dug in and took the second set in a
tiebreak 7-2. Faced with another match-deciding third-set tiebreak,
Miyashiro hoped to deliver the Bruins their first victory on the
day. Battling to a 3-3 tie, Miyashiro and Rivers exchanged a point
of more than 20 groundstrokes before Rivers claimed a 4-3 lead on a
sharply angled overhead and went on to win 10-5.
Team co-captain Chace Stalcup said of Miyashiro's play,
“Most of the conference might be surprised to see Mitch push
a player of Rivers' caliber to the brink like that. Not us.
That's the Mitch we see every day in practice. He has come to
play every match so far this season; he's turned into a real
beast in our lineup.”
NEXT: George Fox visits Whitworth University in
Spokane, Wash., Sunday. The match was originally scheduled
for 12:00 noon but has been moved up an hour to 11:00 a.m. to give
the Bruins a little earlier start home … Whitman hosts Lewis
& Clark College Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
