MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield men's tennis team picked up their first Northwest Conference win of the year on Saturday, snapping a five-match losing streak against the Willamette Bearcats with an impressive 9-0 sweep.
It was the Wildcats' first 9-0 win since March 13, 2021, also against the Bearcats.
The win improved Linfield to 3-9 (1-4) on the year and 3-2 in McMinnville. Willamette fell to 0-5 and 0-3 in Northwest Conference play.
DOUBLES
With early April showers dampening the courts to unplayable conditions at the match's start time, doubles play was conducted indoors before the action eventually moved outside by the time singles matches started with the weather improving as the morning went on.
Linfield began the undefeated day on the right foot, winning the top two doubles flights but facing solid competition for those wins.
In the No. 1 flight
Rogue Stone and
Matous Young picked up their second win of the season as a duo with a well-fought 8-6 win over the Bearcats' Andrew Kropp and Quentin Nigbur.
The second contest of the day was even closer with
Isaac Milner and
Seamus Miller paired together for just the second time this year but edging out Trey Allen and Andre Lief 8-7.
 Linfield improved to 3-0 on the day in a much more one-sided third doubles flight as
Cody Pickar and
Abraham Solomon improved to a team best 3-4 as a duo with a dominant 8-0 win against Douglas Li and Jesus Barocio Garibay.
SINGLES
With play moving outdoors Stone took care of business in the top singles flight of the day, beating Nigbur 6-2, 6-2. The freshman improved to 4-8 in singles on the year, and 3-7 while playing as linfield No. 1 seed.
Young won an interesting contest in flight No. 2, losing the first set to Kropp 0-6 before taking the second 6-0 and sealing the matchup 6-4 in set three, clinching the win for the Wildcats at 5-0 on the match.
Pickar improved to a team-best 4-5 in singles on the season with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win over Lief, while Milner dealt with Allen 6-4, 6-2.
With the score at 7-0, Solomon had to battle to keep Linfield unbeaten but eventually knocked off Li with a 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 win.
The final flight of the year had Miller completing the sweep with the first singles win of his career, winning 6-1, 7-6 with a 6-5 tiebreaker to finalize the score on the day at 9-0, Linfield.
NEXT
The Wildcats will make the short trip to Newberg tomorrow morning to play the George Fox Bruins (10-5, 5-0) and then will end the regular season with two at home against the Whits on April 9 and 10, hosting the Whitman Blues (4-11, 2-1) on Saturday and the Whitworth Pirates (5-6, 3-1) on Sunday.
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