REDLANDS, Calif. – The Linfield men's tennis team dropped the first of their four-match California road trip Tuesday night, falling 7-2 to the Redlands Bulldogs at the Jim Verdiek Tennis Center.
 
It was the first road match of the season for Linfield (1-2) and the first official contest of the year for the Bulldogs (1-0), who are ranked No. 25 in the nation and No. 7 in the West Region in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.
 
DOUBLES
Redlands took an early lead on the match by winning the first and third doubles flights with the Wildcats managing to take the second.
 
In the top flight Linfield newcomer Wilhelm Saiga was was paired with freshman Brooks Lerfald but fell 8-4 to Redland's Bryce Keim and Nils Plutat.
 
In the No. 2 flight the Wildcats got their first point of the match from Seth Lee and Rogue Stone with an 8-6 win over Stefan Hester and Jack Mattox.
 
The third doubles flight saw Nick Gabelman and Alexander Rosenquist lose 8-3 to the Bulldogs' Luca Davidorf and Josh Davydov, giving Redlands a 3-1 lead heading into singles play.
 
SINGLES
Saiga earned Linfield's lone point from singles action in his first match since transferring into Linfield with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Hester, tightening the match score at 3-2.
 
Hester is the ITA's 7^th highest ranked singles player in the West Region and 28^th in Division-III entering the spring season.
 
But Linfield was unable to win a point the rest of the match. Stone fell to Keim 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 2 flight while Lee, although able to win the opening game, lost in three sets to Mattox 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 3 flight.
 
Redlands clinched the win for the match at 5-2 in the fourth doubles flight when Lerfald lost to Davydov 6-4, 6-3.
 
The No. 5 flight featured Davidorf beating Rosenqusit 6-4, 6-3 while Gabelman lost to Tyler Pyle 6-0, 6-0.
 
NEXT
The Wildcats continue their California road trip Wednesday at Whittier College (1-3, 0-2) with the match start time set for 4:00 at the Richard Ettinger Tennis Courts.
 
They'll then visit NAIA opponent Westcliff University (3-1) on Thursday in Irvine with the match time still to be announced, before wrapping up their trip on Friday in Pasadena at Caltech (3-1).
 
Linfield returns to Oregon to open Northwest Conference play at Willamette on March 4 before returning home to host George Fox the following day. Read Full Article