Men’s tennis inches closer to NWC perfection

One win away. One win from an undefeated run through the Northwest Conference. One win from a sixth consecutive conference championship.

The Whitman men’s tennis team went 2-0 this past Sunday with a pair of road victories at Linfield and at Willamette. Whitman blanked both the Wildcats and Bearcats 9-0.

Against Linfield, Whitman took all six singles matches in straight-set victories and dropped only two games in doubles action (won 8-2 at No. 1).

Only a couple of hours later against Willamette, junior Sam Sadeghi jumped from his regular No. 5 singles slot to the No. 2 slot. Sadeghi made the most of his new position and won a competitive match 6-2, 3-6, 10-5.

Now 11-0 in the NWC and 18-3 overall, only a visit from Lewis & Clark College this Saturday stands between Whitman and a regular season conference title.

Women’s tennis bounces back quickly after close loss to conference leaders

After dropping a hard-fought decision to NWC leader Linfield, the Whitman women’s tennis team came back the next day to take down Willamette and regain sole possession of second place in the standings with two games to play.

Linfield came out roaring at the start of Friday’s match and swept all three doubles matches. Whitman responded with four wins out of a possible six in singles competition but the match scoring went to the Wildcats, 5-4.

Whitman, however, refused to fall victim to a weekend sweep and came out Saturday with new energy. Courtney and Morgan Lawless set the tone with an 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles and Whitman went on to take the match scoring 8-1.

The Bearcats were forced to forfeit three matchups due to illness and injury: No. 3 doubles, No. 5 singles and No. 6 singles.

Now 8-2 in the NWC and 13-4 overall, Whitman will take its #10 West Regional ranking on the road for a final pair of conference matches against George Fox University and Lewis & Clark. A pair of Whitman victories would assure the team of a second-place finish and No. 2 seed heading into the conference championship tournament.

Baseball falters late in game 3, drops weekend series

For the Whitman baseball team, the task was mighty tall this past weekend: after a series win at home against Lewis & Clark, the Missionaries had to go on the road for a three-game set with first-place Pacific University.

After dropping the first two games of the series 0-5 and 2-9, the Whitman bats finally came alive in game 3. The Missionaries led 4-3 going into the bottom of the fifth inning but three Whitman errors in the next two innings gave the Boxers a lead they would not relinquish.

First-year Spencer Hobson put up a fight on the mound against the powerful Pacific lineup. It was a game of sixes for Hobson, who pitched 6.0 innings and gave up six runs on six hits while striking out six batters. However, Hobson committed three of the six Whitman errors, which resulted in five unearned runs.

Sophomores Cam Young (4-5) and Jimmy Madden (3-5) paced the Missionary offense, which put up 14 hits overall but left 12 runners on base.

Whitman plays its final home games this weekend and will celebrate its Senior Day with a three-game series against Willamette. The Bearcats sit one spot above the Missionaries in sixth place in the NWC. A Whitman sweep would jump the Missionaries over Pacific in the standings.