WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The Linfield men's tennis team posted promising results at Whitman College over last weekend, competing against talent from across the Northwest Conference in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Fall Regional tournament.
 
Linfield submitted eight players into the two singles draws and four teams into the doubles tournament.
 
DOUBLES
The Wildcats got their top doubles performance out of junior duo Seth Lee and Rogue Stone, who performed well enough to reach the tournament's quarterfinals.
 
Lee and Stone received a first-round bye, before dispatching Puget Sound's Reef Gelder and Maxwell Murata 8-1 in the second and Lewis & Clark's Noah Sutin and Kai Willis in a tough 8-7 battle in the third.
 
But Lee and Stone were unable to move past the quarters, falling to the No. 2 seeded team and eventual tournament runners-up Eli Mizerski and Nanase Ebisu, 8-2.
 
Two teams of Linfield newcomers fell just short of the quarterfinals as the duos of freshmen Haven Hepton and Cameron Paulsen and transfers Julian Bilbao and Abhi Acharya both reached the third round.
 
Hepton and Paulsen received a first-round bye before pulling out a second round victory, 8-6, over Lewis & Clark's Matt Chio and Miles Stone.
 
The freshman pairing then fell 8-2 in the following match to Vahag Pashayan and Lars Schmassmann of George Fox.
 
Bilbao and Acharya did have to play a first-round competition, dispatching Puget Sound's David Lybek and Sebastian Silverstein. In the second round they faced Whitworth's Payton Romey and Nathan Tjelle, winning 8-6.
 
They went on to fall in the third 8-4, to Whitman duo Artem Manov and Charles Rush.
 
Senior Nick Gabelman and sophomore Alexander Rosenquist were paired together as well for a first round, 8-4 win over Whitman's Jasraj Sethi and Chris O'Farrill, but lost the next round to Alexander Kinoshita and Aidan Rooney.
 
SINGLES
Lee also provided Linfield's best singles performance, competing in the "A Draw."
 
Lee received another first round bye before beating Lewis & Clark's Joey Lyon 6-1, 6-4. He advanced to face Mizerski once again, but fell to the singles tournament's No. 1 overall seed 6-3, 6-4.
 
Mizerski went on to win the tournament over Bruin teammate Hunter Fujimori.
 
Rogue Stone was the only other Wildcat to win a round in the singles draw, beating Ryley Chang of Pacific 7-6, 6-3 before losing to Alejandro Raffo in the second round 6-2, 6-1.
 
Hepton, Acharya and Paulsen were also entered into the eight draw, all unable to reach the second round.
 
Bilbao, Gabelman and Pickar were all entered the "B Draw," with Bilbao and Gabelman both reaching the third round.
 
Both Bilbao and Gabelman received first round byes. Bilbao cruised to victory in the second past Gelder, 6-1, 6-3 before falling to No. 1 seed Jacson Wurzer of Whitman 7-5, 6-3.
 
Gabelman was able to work past Whitworth's Landon LaBrie 7-6, 6-4, before falling in the third round to eventual B Draw champion Hanri Luo 6-2, 6-1.
 
NEXT
ITA's concludes Linfield's fall season. The Wildcats will head into winter offseason training before picking up the spring season in February.