This past weekend, the men’s tennis team had their final two home games of the season. After coming in to these matches ranked 21st in the NCAA Division III national rankings and seventh in the regional rankings, Whitman men’s tennis improved to 14-0 on the season in Northwest Conference play and 16-4 for the season total. The Missionaries had their eighth shutout of the season against Pacific on Friday, April 2, and on Saturday, April 3, beat Linfield 8-1.
On Friday, Whitman had no trouble dismantling Pacific in both doubles and singles. At number one doubles, senior Matt Solomon and junior Etienne Moshevich won 8-2; at the two spot, senior Christoph Fuchs and junior Quin Miller won 8-5; and at number three doubles, senior Nadeem Kassam and first-year Jeff Tolman posted an 8-2 win.
At the number one singles spot, Solomon had no trouble besting his Pacific opponent, winning 6-1, 6-0. At number two singles, Fuchs had a little more trouble, but ended up winning 6-4, 6-3. Kassam bested his opponent at number three singles 6-1, 6-3, while fellow senior Jasper Follows swept his opponent 6-2, 6-2, at number four. Rounding out the singles side at five and six, seniors Thomas Roston and David Deming both handily won, 6-1, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-1, respectively.
“Hopefully everyone will continue to play better and we will be at the top of our game by the conference tournament. This weekend we probably played our best doubles of the year,” said Coach Jeff Northam.
On Saturday, Linfield, who is ranked ninth regionally, gave Whitman a little more of a challenge: but not much. Whitman swept in doubles, with Solomon and Moshevich at number one and Kassam and Tolman at number three, both winning 8-5.
At the number two spot, Fuchs and Miller had a real challenge on their hands facing their Linfield counterparts, Tal DeWitt and Kyle Anderson. Both teams were evenly matched and unforced errors plagued each side. With overheads that looked like winners falling into the net and constant double faults, it was anyone’s game. However, in the end, Fuchs’ strong serves lead the game to a tiebreak, which Whitman eventually won 9-8 (7-1).
In singles, Whitman gave up one match at number four singles, with junior Chris Bailey falling 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 to his Linfield counterpart. At number two singles, Tolman also had a challenge, but he came out on top, winning 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 10-4). The rest of the Whitman singles squad rolled past their opponents, Solomon winning at number one 6-1, 6-2; Moshevich winning at number three 6-1, 6-4; Fuchs winning at number five 6-2, 6-2; and Kassam at number six winning 6-3, 6-2.
The past two home matches are the last for seven seniors on the Missionary squad. Solomon, senior captain, reflected on his time here and on what the season holds.
“Obviously, never having lost a conference match in my time here at Whitman is a great accomplishment and is a testament to the fact that we never take our opponents for granted. No matter who we play, we always try to bring everything we have to the table. Our hard work and efforts have definitely paid off,” said Solomon. “To win three conference titles in a row is quite an accomplishment, but we still have a lot we want to accomplish as well. We can’t rest on our laurels now because we know this can be a really special year for us and we can accomplish much more than just a conference championship.”
These two wins increased Whitman’s regular season conference win streak to 64 matches, and with the win over Linfield, Whitman has clinched a share of the conference title as well as the top seed in the post-season Northwest conference tournament.
Whitman has two more regular season matches, both against Whitworth next weekend, before their sights fall on the Northwest Conference tournament, and if all goes well, the NCAA tournament.
