RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - It took a trip of over 1,000 miles for two teams located 14 miles apart, the George Fox University Bruins and the Linfield College Wildcats, to get together for their lone Northwest Conference men's tennis match of the season, which resulted in an 8-1 Bruins' victory, Sunday afternoon here at the Las Palmas Tennis Resort.

With both Pacific Northwest teams in the area to play several traveling opponents in a neutral-site setting, the two Yamhill County foes found time to play each other without having to worry about the weather, and the Bruins turned the tide in the match with a huge comeback in the No. 1 doubles after the other two doubles had been split.

George Fox took the No. 3 doubles to start with as Justin McClain and Andy Tweet claimed an 8-1 win over Linfield's Nick Konen and Alec Wisthoff, but the 'Cats tied it with an 8-5 victory at No. 2, Tim Hawkins and Micah Roos downing Preston Mann and Matt Deming.  In the No. 1 match, Linfield's Lukas Kleinman and Kelsey Rosborough jumped out to a 7-4 lead and appeared well on their way to giving the Wildcats the doubles edge, but the Bruins' Chris Lilley and Mitchell Miyashiro were not to be denied, rallying for a 9-8 (7-3) triumph.

“Chris and Mitch fought like champions to pull that match out,” raved George Fox coach Neal Ninteman.  “Their comeback provided us with a huge wave of momentum going into the singles.”

Indeed, the Bruins built upon that improbable rally to cruise through all six singles matches in straight sets.  It was Lilley over Roos 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1; McClain over Rosborough 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2; Mann over Kleinman 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3; Nick Grafton over Hawkins 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4; Deming over Konen 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5; and Tweet over Wisthoff 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6.

“Linfield is in a rebuilding year,' noted Ninteman, “but they put up a great fight in doubles and it proved to be a good competitive match.  We also did some shuffling of our doubles lineup to provide some much-needed rest for a couple of guys.”

NEXT: George Fox (6-2, NWC 5-1) concludes its California swing Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. against Hardin-Simmons University from Abilene, Texas, at Las Palmas … Linfield (0-5, NWC 0-4) takes on Hardin-Simmons Monday at 8:00 a.m. at The Vintage Club in nearby Indian Wells, Calif.