PORTLAND – The Pacific Lutheran men's tennis team ran into another difficult Northwest Conference team on the road on Saturday, as Lewis & Clark swept the singles matches to claim a 7-2 win over the Lutes.
Following a top-ranked doubles win by Lewis & Clark, Pacific Lutheran grabbed the next two doubles victories. Jake Yannello and Spencer Herron teamed up to take down Morgan Joyce and Daniel Hahm 8-1, and Sam Stadter and James Okubo gave PLU a 2-1 lead going into the singles round with an 8-3 win over Cameron Smith and Carter Gee-Taylor.
"We came out strong winning two out of three doubles and had some good momentum going into the singles matches, which is something we desperately needed," PLU head coach Rocky Poulin said. "But once again we faced a pretty tough team at the top of the ladder."
Three of the six singles matches went into a third set, but Lewis & Clark claimed the win in all three. Stadter won the first set against Kevin Ross 6-4, but Ross rallied for a 6-4 win of his own and swept the third set 6-0. In the No. 4 matchup, Okubo also claimed a 6-4 opening-set win before Joyce swept the second set and won a tiebreaker in the third to claim a 7-6 victory. The final singles matchup went to a super tiebreaker, and even that one went to extra points, as Nicholas Parker outlasted Brandon Bulaclac 2-6, 6-4 and 1-0 (12-10).
"We just couldn't pull them out at the end, and that was the deciding factor against a top team like Lewis & Clark," Poulin said.
The loss drops PLU's record to 0-2 both overall and in Northwest Conference play, while Lewis & Clark improves to 1-0 in the conference and 1-2 overall. The Lutes return home next weekend, hosting Pacific on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and taking on Willamette at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Sprinker Recreation Center.
"With so many new faces on the team, the coaching staff can already see improvement in just two matches," Poulin said. "So it's something to look forward to as the season goes along. I'm very proud of the way our team is playing, and I see great things ahead."
