FOREST GROVE, Ore. - In what has become one of the best and most intense rivalries in Northwest Conference men's tennis in the last three years, the Pacific University Boxers tightened their grip on second place in the league standings with a closer-than-it-looked 8-1 win over the George Fox University Bruins Tuesday here at the Holce Tennis Courts.

Nick Grafton gave the Bruins their only win of the day when he pulled out the No. 6 singles 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) over the Boxers' Alen Suklje, but the match had long been decided by that time. 

The Boxers took the early lead when Brennan Faith and Grayson Frazier downed the Bruins' Preston Mann and Chace Stalcup 8-3 at No. 2 doubles.  At No. 3, Grafton and Mitchell Miyashiro fell behind 6-1 but battled back before falling 8-5 to Pacific's Josh Bernstein and Reuben Mulhern.  At No. 1, it was Pacific which had to rally from an early 4-1 deficit, Troy Zuroske and Giancarlo Battaglia eventually overcoming the Bruins' Justin McClain and Chris Lilley 9-7.

The match was decided when Battaglia defeated Lilley 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles and Faith edged Mann 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 at No. 3.  Moments later, Zuroske completed a comeback against McClain at No. 1 to win 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2.  Bernstein topped Stalcup 6-3, 6-0 at No. 4 and Clark Wininger took out Miyashiro 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 before Grafton prevailed to keep the Bruins from being shut out.

George Fox, ranked 12th in the NCAA Division III West Region, fell to 9-4 overall and 7-3 in the NWC.  Pacific, currently unranked but likely to be listed somewhere when the next ratings by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association come out, improved to 13-3 overall and 10-1 in the conference with its seventh straight win, trailing only Whitman College in the standings. 

“As expected, it was a long match - just over six hours,” said George Fox head coach Neal Ninteman, “but it wasn't quite as dramatic as we had hoped.  The only consolation is that we could see them again in ten days in the conference tournament.”

The NWC Tournament is set for Friday-Saturday, Apr. 25-26, at the site of the regular season champion, in all likelihood at Whitman in Walla Walla, Wash.

NEXT: George Fox closes out its regular season with matches at Pacific Lutheran University Friday at 3:30 p.m. and at the University of Puget Sound Saturday at 11:00 a.m. … Pacific likewise ends its regular season this weekend, visiting Puget Sound Friday at 4:00 p.m.