Tacoma, Wash. — In a pair of tightly contested Northwest Conference matchups Saturday at the Tennis Pavilion, the University of Puget Sound men's tennis team came up just short against visiting Lewis & Clark, falling 4-3 in both matches.

The Loggers showed heart and hustle throughout the day, taking early leads in doubles and pushing the Pioneers to the brink in singles. The first match, beginning at 11 a.m., saw Puget Sound snatch two of three doubles points to take a 1-0 lead into singles. Jason Rowe and Will Church delivered a clean 6-3 win on court one, while the tandem of Trent Beckman and Jackson Stumpf sealed a 6-4 victory at No. 2. Only the No. 3 doubles pairing slipped, with Tyler Blixt and Vincent Unpingco falling 6-1.

In singles, however, Lewis & Clark clawed back. The Pioneers took four of the six individual matches, highlighted by dominant performances from Kai Wills and Wade McDermott, who each won in straight sets at No. 5 and No. 3, respectively. Despite a gritty win by Rowe at the top spot—outlasting Joey Lyon 7-5, 7-5—and a composed straight-set win by Beckman at No. 4, the Loggers couldn't reclaim the lead.

The decider came down to court six. After splitting tiebreaks in the second set, Bennett Gazor of Lewis & Clark edged out Unpingco 7-5 in the final frame to seal the match.

The Loggers will face Whitman on April 12th, and then Whitworth on April 13th, for their last matches of the regular season.