NEWBERG --- The No. 29 George Fox men's tennis team made history with a 9-0 sweep of Lewis & Clark in the Northwest Conference opener they hosted on Saturday afternoon. The Bruins recorded their first-ever shutout of the Pioneers, with their closest finish of 8-1 coming in the spring of 2011.

"It was a great start to our conference schedule," explained head coach Jeff Cero. "The team did an awesome job in doubles setting the tone for the match and getting ahead early heading into singles."

Doubles

The Bruins opened with a strong performance in doubles competition, sweeping all three matches. Sophomores Luke Lemaitre and Rox Rogers made the quickest work of their opponents, sweeping No. 2 doubles 8-0. The No. 8-ranked tandem of Will Leach and Alex Namba recorded an 8-5 win at No. 1 before Camden Camacho and Thierry Van Os concluded the shutout with an 8-3 win at No. 3.

Singles

Rogers opened the singles scoring with another shutout before finishing his No. 3 singles opponent 6-0, 6-1.

"Rox did a great job today from beginning to finish," said Cero, "He played not only at a high level but with great focus to maintain it throughout the course of the day."

No. 12 Leach continued the Bruins' scoring with a quick 6-2, 6-0 decision in the one spot with No. 50 Lemaitre adding a 6-1, 6-2 victory at second singles. Namba won a 7-5, 6-3 battle in the four slot with Camacho turning in a 6-2, 6-4 victory shortly after. Thierry Van Os need three sets to defeat his sixth singles opponent, dropping the first 7-5 before rattling back 6-4 and taking the tiebreaker 10-7.

"There's lots to build on from this one heading into the bulk of our season. We'll be ready tomorrow for Willamette."

What It Means

The Bruins recorded their first home victory of the season, moving to 2-3 overall. With the victory, the team kicks off conference action at 1-0.

What Happens Next

The men's team heads south for its second conference match in as many days when it faces Willamette tomorrow, Mar. 8. The contest is set to begin at 11:00 a.m.