SPOKANE, Wash. - The Whitworth men's tennis team goes to Yakima, Washington this Friday and Saturday for the Northwest Conference tennis tournament. The Pirates are the #6 seed and will play 3rd-seeded Linfield in the first round on Friday morning. The tournament will take place at the Yakima Tennis Club, in Yakima, Washington. First round matches will be Friday morning. Semifinal and 5th place matches will follow later in the day.

Click here for the NWC Tournament web site . The site includes tournament schedules, brackets and directions.

The Pirates head into the tournament with a 6-15 overall record and a conference mark of 6-10. Whitworth defeated Pacific 9-0 twice last weekend in the final regular season matches of 2007. Curran Scott and Trevor Strang were the only players to compete in singles in both matches. Scott won in straight sets at #4 singles on Saturday, then won 7-6, 6-2 as the #2 seed on Sunday. Strang won 6-0, 6-0 at #5 on Saturday then won 6-0, 6-2 at #4 on Sunday. Kellen Oetgen played doubles in both matches, teaming with Justin Jose to win 8-3 at #2 on Saturday, then teaming with Colin Storm to win 8-4 at #1 on Sunday.

Whitworth and Linfield have played twice this season. The Wildcats won both matches, 9-0 in Spokane and 7-2 in McMinnville. If Whitworth upsets Linfield on Friday morning, the Pirates would meet 2nd-seeded Pacific Lutheran in a semifinal on Friday afternoon. If Whitworth loses to Linfield, the Bucs would take on either #4 UPS or #5 Willamette in a 5th-6th place match.