NEWBERG, Ore. --- The No. 16 George Fox men's tennis team won its second straight undefeated set of regular-season and conference tournament titles. In a mirror image of its 2021 path, the Bruins won two doubles points and then battled to the clinch in singles.

How It Happened

The Bruins' top tandem of Will Leach and Luke Lemaitre - ranked third in the West region - took down the Boxers' fourth-ranked duo of Mason Tran and Reyn Miyagawa, 8-5, for their first of five points. Camden Camacho and Vahag Pashayan also won, 8-2, against the Boxers' no. 2 tandem of Koby Murata and Joey Hu. Quentin Gonzalez and Aidan Rooney were able to defeat Rox Rogers and Ryan Olson, 8-2, to avoid a sweep in doubles.

Singles competition was a battle for both teams up and down the roster. Lemaitre was the first to notch a win after outdueling Miyagawa on court two, 6-4, 6-1, to give Fox three team points. Rogers was the next Bruin to clinch with a 6-2, 6-2 victory on court three over Gonzalez, and after fighting through a first-set tiebreak, Camacho clinched the match against Pacific for the second year in a row with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 final on court six.

Hu won his first set against Pashayan on court five, but Pashayan was able to match him with a 6-3 win in set two and led, 2-1, as play was halted. Leach and Tran traded 6-3 sets on court one and Leach was nearly able to clinch the match himself with a 5-1 score in set three at the halt. Nicholas Koulisis and Luis Rojas were midway through the second set with a Boxer lead, 6-3, 4-3, when play stopped.

Coach's Thoughts

"First of all, all credit is due to Brian Jackson and Pacific for a really hard fought battle," coach Jeff Cero said after clinching the win. "So many of their seniors like Reyn, Koby, Quentin, and Joey were part of building such a strong program. We all respect them a lot and had to not only prepare adequately, but show up to the moment, and we did that today.

"Luke, Will, Vahag, and Camden started things off right with some big wins. Luke and Rox really brought it with big performances at [courts] 2 and 3. Camden clinched it again. It's really special to be able to do it back to back, and I am so round of each person on this team. We'll see how far we can go at Nationals!"

What It Means

Fox improves to 16-5 on the year and has clinched the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA postseason. Pacific drops to 12-8 overall and will have to await the selection committee's decision on their program's postseason opportunity.

Up Next

The Bruins will wait to find out their Regional location from the selection committee but their postseason journey will continue in May. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.