SPOKANE, Wash. - The Whitworth men's tennis team will open the 2009 NWC tennis tournament on Friday morning with a match against Willamette.

The fifth-seeded Pirates and fourth-seeded Bearcats will begin their match at 8:00 a.m. at the Yakima Tennis Center. The winner of tomorrow morning's match will take on top-seeded Whitman later in the day in one tournament semifinal. The loser of the match will take on the loser of the second first round contest between #6 Puget Sound and #3 Linfield later on Friday to decide 5th-6th place.

The Whitworth-Willamette match is expected to be very close. The teams split the two-game NWC series in 2009 by identical 5-4 scores, each winning at home.

There are two ways to follow the results of the tournament. The first is the official tournament website, provided by UPS, at http://www2.ups.edu/athletics/tennis/2009/09tennischampionships.html.

The second way is to follow the Whitworth Tennis Twitter page, provided by Colin Storm, at https://twitter.com/whitworthtennis.