VANCOUVER, Wash. – George Fox showed why it's ranked 11th in the region, sweeping Pacific Lutheran 9-0 in the Lutes' 2014 spring season opener Friday night at Club Green Meadows.

George Fox picked up a pair of close doubles wins in the first and third matches, claiming 8-6 victories in each to sandwich an 8-3 win in the second doubles match. The Bruins carried that momentum into the singles matchups, with the closest matches coming in the last two.

Neal Berg pushed Nick Grafton to 7-5 in the first set before falling 6-3 in the second, and Brandon Bulaclac won the first set against Mitchell Miyashiro in the No. 6 match, taking a 7-5 win before falling 6-1 in the second set. Miyashiro took a narrow 10-8 super tiebreaker victory to complete the GFU sweep. George Fox ended PLU's 2013 season in the conference semifinals in the teams' last meeting.

"There were some very competitive matches, but George Fox ended up winning the tilt with some more experience on their team," PLU head coach Rocky Poulin said. "We knew going into the match that the top end of their ladder was going to be tough to defeat, and that held true tonight."

Pacific Lutheran falls to 0-1 on the season, while George Fox improves to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in Northwest Conference play. The Lutes have a quick turnaround before their next conference matchup, visiting Lewis & Clark at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

"We look forward to getting back on the court Saturday to face a tough Lewis & Clark team," Poulin said.