TACOMA – Pacific Lutheran men's tennis players pushed five matches to extra points before Whitworth pulled away to a 9-0 Northwest Conference win over the Lutes Sunday at Sprinker Recreation Center.

Pacific Lutheran fell to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in conference play, while Whitworth improved to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the NWC. The Lutes head to California for their spring break trip next week for five nonconference matches, beginning with a match at California Lutheran on March 21 at 4 p.m.

"It was a very close match, and the final score was not a good indication of that," PLU head coach John Cassens said. "We're looking forward to leaving Thursday for our spring break trip."

Sam Stadter topped the ladder for the Lutes in singles play, going to extra points in the first set before falling 7-5, 6-4 to Drew Brigham. Blake Miller defeated Noel Oteng-Mensah 6-3, 6-3 in the second match, and Shane Sandlin defeated James Okubo 7-5, 6-2 in the third match.

Drew Adams took a narrow first set against Sam Angel 7-6 before closing out the match win with a 6-2 victory in the second set. Jeremy Marsh fell 6-4 to Matt Goebel in the first set but rallied for a 6-4 win in the second set before Goebel won a 10-3 tiebreaker. Caleb Hughes rounded out the singles ladder with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Alberto Leal.

Brigham and Sandlin defeated Stadter and Okubo 8-3 in the first doubles set, while Miller and Goebel took down Angel and Chris Erkkila in a close 9-8 second match. Chris Engelmann and Adams took an 8-5 win against Oteng-Mensah and Marsh in the third doubles match.