Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 POCOTELLO, IDAHO – The Linfield men's tennis team lost a pair of dual matches, both 7-0, against Division-I Idaho State on Saturday on the Bengals' home courts of Reed Gym.
"Playing our second and third matches in less than 24 hours against an opponent who had beaten Nevada 5-2 the day before, we competed really well today," said head coach
Ben Belletto. "We tried some different doubles teams and moved our lineup around a little and I loved how our guys stepped up."
MATCH 1 – DOUBLES
Despite the final tallies of the matches, the Wildcats saw a strong performance out of their number one doubles team of freshmen
Rogue Stone and
Matous Young, falling 7-5 to Idaho State's top pairing of Hiroki Fujita and Ege Cankus.
Linfield's number two of sophomores
Isaac Milner and
Nick Gabelman were able to get a game off of ISU's Patrick Kristensen and Andreas Kramer, falling 6-1, while the Wildcats number three team of sophomore
Seamus Miller and freshman
Cody Pickar fell 6-0 to Ethan Lye and Wikus Robbertse.
With all three doubles matches won by ISU, they received one point, per Division-I scoring rules, needing to win two out of three to receive the point.
MATCH 1 – SINGLES
Stone as Linfield's number one and Milner as the Wildcats' number two both fell 6-1, 6-2 in the top singles contests of the match, falling to Kramer and Kristensen, respectively. The singles matches also saw Pickar lose 6-1, 6-0 to Fujita, sophomore
Abraham Solomon lose 6-0, 6-0 to Robbertse and Miller fall to Lye 6-0, 6-1.
Taking all four singles matches, Idaho State was awarded three points and the win at 4-0.
MATCH 2 – DOUBLES
In the top doubles match of the day's second event, Belletto teamed Stone with Gabelman, the duo losing to Kramer and Kristensen 6-2. Pairings of Young and Milner and Pickar and Solomon both lost their matches 6-0, 6-0, giving a point to Idaho State.
MATCH 2 – SINGLES
In the second match Stone was the only Wildcat able to win multiple games against the Bengals, losing 6-0, 6-2 to Aleksandar Petrovic. Young and Milner both lost their second singles matches of the day 6-0, 6-1. Gabelman, Pickar and Solomon all lost their matches 6-0, 6-0, giving three points to Idaho State and the win at 4-0.
Despite the losses, the Wildcats showed promise all weekend.
"I'm really happy with the way we competed this weekend," said Belletto. "And how everyone embraced the challenge of playing 3 matches in less than 24 hours against good competition."
NEXT
Linfield returns home to host Bellevue College at 10:00 on Saturday, Feb 19. Their first day of Northwest Conference action will feature a dual match at Lewis and Clark on Feb. 20.
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