This past weekend, men’s tennis made the trek out to Eastern Washington for a weekend of tennis against the Whitworth Pirates and the Whitman Missionaries.
Although the Loggers (0-4 NWC) made an admirable effort, the competition ultimately proved too great to overcome. The Loggers have yet to win a match this season, although there are still many matches left to play.
On Friday, March 1, Puget Sound faced off against the undefeated Whitman Missionaries. The Missionaries swept the Loggers 9-0 in a convincing fashion, with Puget Sound winning only nine games in the nine individual matches played overall.
Whitman opened the match by sweeping all three doubles matches with 8-0 scores.
The singles play that followed unfolded in a similar fashion. Senior Michael Cutter (Colorado Springs, Colo.), freshman Daniel Deuel (Oakland, Calif.), sophomore Graham Baker (Denver, Colo.) and junior John Stevens (Portland, Ore.) all managed to win two games apiece in their number 1, 2, 3, and 6 singles match losses, respectively.
Sophomore Abe Noyes (Southwest Harbor, Maine) lost 6-0, 6-1 at number 4 singles, and sophomore Jake Peterson (Bellevue, Wash.) lost 6-0, 6-0 at number 5 singles.
To Puget Sound’s credit, they were facing a team that has not lost a match on their outdoor courts since February of 2009 and has remained undefeated in regular season conference play since April of 2006.
On Sunday, March 3, the Loggers took to the court again to face Whitworth (3-7, 3-2 NWC) at the Scotford Tennis Center. The Pirates started the match off by clinching fairly one-sided victories in all three doubles matches, with Noyes and senior Michael Tieu (Salem, Ore.) having the closest match, losing 8-4 at number 3 doubles.
The Loggers fought back in singles, but all six singles matches ended in straight set sweeps that went Whitworth’s way. Cutter lost 6-1, 6-1 at numbr 1 singles, while Baker fell 6-0, 6-4 at number 2.
Deuel was swept 6-0, 6-0 at number 3 and Noyes lost 6-2, 6-2 at number 4. Peterson had a close fight at number 5, but ultimately lost 7-5, 6-1, followed by a 6-2, 6-3 loss by Stevens at number 6.
Although the season may have gotten off to a rough start, there is still plenty of time for Loggers tennis to get a victory or two under their belts.
They are a talented but fairly young team with great potential, and hopefully this talent will translate into overall match wins later on this season.
