McMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield men's tennis team fell 6-3 Thursday night in its season-opening dual match with the William Jessup Warriors of the NAIA.
 
It was the first dual match for the Wildcats under first-year interim head coach Alex Martin.
 
"It was a great battle," Martin said. "We played some great doubles to jump out to a 2-1 lead. The energy was great from all of the guys and they played good, smart doubles."
 
DOUBLES
The Wildcats found most of their success on the day in doubles play.
 
Each of the top two flights came down to the wire, with Linfield taking both.
 
In the No. 1 contest, senior Blake Fuentes Gilbert, returning to the court for the Wildcats after a year hiatus, was paired with freshman Brooks Lerfald. They edged out William Jessup's Kadyn Silva and Roger Wen, 8-7, to get Linfield on the board first.
 
It was a similar story in the No. 2 flight, with sophomore Rogue Stone and freshman Alexander Rosenquist winning a 7-4 tiebreaker with the Warriors' Isaac Graves and Jordan Lenney to win 8-7.
 
"The intensity was so high when we had two tiebreakers going on for doubles, and to come away with both was a great moment for our guys," Martin said.
 
The Warriors got their first points of the match in the No. 3 doubles flight as junior Matous Young and sophomore Nick Gabelman fell to Austroberto Carlon and Sam Smith, 8-2.
 
SINGLES
Although the Wildcats held a 2-1 lead after doubles, tight battles in singles would ultimately lean in favor of the Warriors.
 
Lerfald opened singles play with a big win in the No. 3 flight against Carlon 6-3, 7-5 to put Linfield up 3-1, but William Jessup answered by taking the remaining five contests.
 
"Brooks played a really good match and was in total control for the vast majority of the match," Martin said.
 
In the No. 1 flight, Wen took a hard-fought 7-6 win in the opening set over Fuentes Gilbert, before closing out the match in the second frame, 6-1. In the No. 2 flight, Stone fell to Silva, 6-2, 6-2.
 
Flights 4, 5 and 6 all finished with 10-point tiebreaker sets, with the Wildcats forcing the extra set after dropping the opening frame in all three contests.
 
In the No. 4 flight, Rosenquist fell to Graves, 6-4, 4-6, 10-3, while Gabelman lost 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 to William Jessup's Fabricio Ditolla in the No. 5 flight.
 
The final flight saw Young fall to the Warriors' Tanner Sitanggang, 6-3, 1-6, 10-5.
 
"Singles was a heartbreaker," Martin said. "Alexander fought through a shaky start, found his game and competed really well. Nick and Matous both fought hard and went toe-to-toe with their opponents but came up just short.
 
"It was so fun to be a part of that match. At numerous points, it looked like we might pull it out, but ultimately, it was a great fight and there's a ton to learn from this match that will serve us well moving forward the rest of the season."
 
NEXT
The Wildcats will host the Willamette Bearcats in a non-conference matchup on Sunday, alongside the Linfield women, in McMinnville. The match is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Read Full Article