NEWBERG, Ore. -- After three months away from competition, the George Fox men's tennis team returned to the Multi-Use Facility to kick off their spring campaign with a 5-2 win over Lewis-Clark State.

How It Happened
The Bruins, ranked No. 24 in the nation in the January ITA Collegiate Rankings, flexed their muscles with two doubles wins to kick off the day. Vahag Pashayan and Camden Camacho began things with a win over the Warriors' top duo of Itaru Kikuchi and Declan Townsend in a close match, 5-7.

While Pashayan and Camacho have experience playing together, ranked ninth in the West Region for doubles, the Bruins tried out doubles pairings in the duo of Alle Banna and Lars Schmassmann and the team of Hunter Fujimori and Eli Mizerski. Banna and Schmassmann dropped their match while Fujimori and Mizerski won theirs.

In singles, the Bruins won four of the six matches to cement their first victory of the year. Pashayan fell in the #1 Singles match to Lewis-Clark Stats' Dan Felker, 6-2, 6-3, while  Schmassmann picked up a win with a 6-3, 6-2 victory of his own in the #3 singles.

Austin Stone faced the Warriors' Austin Swing in the only match of the day to last three sets, with Stone losing close in the third, 9-11. Polish freshman Eli Mizerski, who joined the team in the winter, made his Fox debut in the #2 singles, beating Cade Edwards, 6-3. 6-2.

Fujimori and Camacho rounded out the day with wins in the #5 and #6 singles, respectively, with Fujimori winning, 6-2, 6-0, and Camacho winning 6-4, 6-3. 

Coach's Thoughts
"I was proud of the guys starting the season with a win against a quality opponent," Bruin head coach Jeff Cero said, "We did some things well, and we're pretty sloppy in other areas too. Props to Hunter and Eli for doing a great job today all around. We're looking forward to coming out against William Jessup tomorrow."

What Comes Next
Fox returns to the court on Saturday to take on William Jessup in a match scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm.