NEWBERG, Ore. – The Wildcat men's tennis program posted solid results over the weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Fall Northwest Regional Championship, hosted by reigning Northwest Conference champion George Fox.
 
The 'Cats were led by a stand-out performance from senior Seth Lee, who reached the singles bracket semi-final. He became the first Linfield men's tennis player to do so since Tim Layman in 2004.
 
Featuring talent from every NWC program, the tournament was split into an "A draw" and a "B draw" for singles, with both draws holding consolation brackets as well. One draw with two consolation brackets was issued for doubles.
 
Individual seeds were issued in each bracket for seeds No. 1-4, four players or teams were grouped as seeds No. 5-8, eight were seeded as No. 9-16 and the remaining were unseeded.
 
The weekend's results will be used by the ITA to determine national and regional rankings. Overall, the Wildcats compiled a 20-20 record throughout the tournament.
 
SINGLES
Lee, a first team all-NWC selection last spring, was Linfield's top seed placed in the No.'s 5-8 grouping. After receiving a first-round bye, Lee swiftly dismissed his second-round matchup in Lewis & Clark's Matt Chio on Friday to advance to Saturday's round of 16.
 
From there Lee beat Whitman's Alejandro Raffo 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals, winning in three sets again against Ikuho Ebisu of George Fox 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4.
 
Matched up in Sunday's semi-final against another Bruin in eventual runner-up Zach Moore, Lee dropped the opening set of the contest but responded in the second, winning by three games.
 
But with Lee playing in his third three-set match in a row, Moore managed to outlast the Wildcat senior to win 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 and end Lee's run.
 
"Seth's performance was legendary," said head coach Todd Mansfield. "Every coach and player were talking about how incredible he was. I couldn't have been prouder of the way he represented Linfield this weekend and all the time that he has worn the purple and cardinal."
 
Lee expects to graduate in December, making this year's fall tournament the final competition of his career.
 
Junior Brooks Lerfald was Linfield's second-highest seed as a No. 9-16, also receiving a first-round bye. In the second round he beat Pacific's Joshua Dela Cruz in straight sets before falling to eventual tournament champion Cameron Yang of Whitman, 6-3, 6-2.
 
Stone and sophomore Cameron Paulsen were also entered into the "A draw" as unseeded players, both going 1-1 in the main bracket and eliminated in the round of 32. Paulsen fell to the tournament's No. 2 seed in Whitman's Alexander Stage.
 
In the "B draw" Linfield saw its greatest success in unseeded sophomore Tommy Gabrielson's run to the quarterfinals.
 
Gabrielson and his first-round opponent of George Fox's Joseph Veece both had first round byes before Gabrielson took their three-set battle. He then earned another three-set victory with a comeback effort over Puget Sound's Carson Ward, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Gabrielson's run ended Sunday when he fell in the quarters to B draw champion Henri Luo of Whitman.
 
"On paper, Tommy had no right to win either of those matches, and that's what I love about Tommy. He just works his tail off and when he does that he is tough to beat," said Mansfield. "I want all my players to give the same effort Tommy does on every point."
 
Junior Abhi Acharya was placed as the No. 1 seed in the B draw and had a first-round bye but found himself in the consolation bracket after losing his first contest of the weekend 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-5 to Puget Sound's Matthew Merzbach.
 
Despite the disappointing start Acharya responded by winning his next four matches and ended the weekend as the champion of the B draw consolation bracket.
 
"Abhi could have mailed it in after losing in the first round, but his pride wouldn't let him," said Mansfield. "He showed me this weekend he is ready to run through a wall for the Wildcats."
 
Senior Cody Pickar, junior Wyatt Zagyva and sophomore Nick Owens were all also entered into the B draw.
 
Owens had the most success with a 7-5, 5-7, 10-5 win in the second round before being forced to retire in the round of 16 against Whitworth's Matt Froslan.
 
DOUBLES
The Wildcats top doubles performance came from Lee and Stone, who went 8-5 last spring as Linfield's No. 1 doubles team and were seeded as the tournament's No. 3 duo on the weekend.
 
After a first-round bye they took their round of 32 contest 8-3 and their round of 16 match 8-6 before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up team Diego Guzman and Charles Rush of Whitman.
 
Lerfald and Paulsen were seeded in the 9-16 group and reached the round of 32 with an 8-3 win before they lost to the No. 4 seeded team and top pairing for the host Bruins in Ebisu and Lars Schmassmann.
 
Owens and Pickar, unseeded in the doubles draw, had a first round bye before losing to a No. 5-8 seed team in Whitman's Yang and Lucas Huang.
 
NEXT
With competition complete for the fall the Wildcats head into their winter training before the spring season starts in February.