NEWBERG, Ore. and Beaverton, Ore. - Linfield men's tennis began its spring season against stiff competition over the weekend, hosting defending Northwest Conference champion George Fox on Friday before visiting Division I Portland State on Sunday.
 
Both matches saw Linfield (0-2, 0-1) on the wrong end of 7-0 shutouts, but the Wildcats showed competitive promise throughout the weekend.
 
On Friday the Bruins (1-1, 1-0) started the evening's action in Rutschman Fieldhouse by narrowly stealing the lone doubles point for the day.
 
Linfield's lead duo of Brooks Lerfald and Cameron Paulsen dropped the No. 1 flight to George Fox's Lars Schmassman and Ikuho Ebisu, but Matous Young and Alexander Rosenquist responded with a 7-5 win at No. 3 over Jackson Whittaker and Luis Hernandez.
 
But at No. 2 doubles it was George Fox skating by to earn the point with a 7-5 victory by 2024 All-American Zach Moore and partner Keita Shoji over Rogue Stone and Abhi Acharya.
 
At No. 1 singles a three-set battle broke out between Lerfald and Schmassman with the Bruin lineup leader eventually winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 while Moore beat Rosenquist in straight sets at No. 2 6-0, 6-3.
 
George Fox earned the clinching fourth point at No. 3 singles with another three-set win that saw Ebisu drop the first set to Paulsen but respond to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
 
In the fourth singles match of the day Shoji topped Stone 6-2, 6-3 while Whittaker beat Acharya 6-0, 6-2 at No. 5.
 
Young gave a gritty performance at No. 6 singles but eventually fell to Hernandez in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.
 
"Overall, I felt good about our team's performance," said head coach Todd Mansfield after Friday's match. "We were a couple of deuce points away from winning the doubles point and winning three of the four singles matches. Now we know our starting point."
 
"To battle like this against the defending champs on opening day makes me believe even more in this team. I think we are going to make some noise in the league this year."
 
After a day of rest on Saturday Linfield traveled to the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center to face the DI Vikings (4-5, 0-1), and despite another shutout loss, showed spirit in the face of competitors from a higher level.
 
Portland State took the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles by Edoarado Cravanzola and Simon Kuszynski over Rosenquist and Acharya 6-3 and Hayden Elliott and Andrin Zuellig over Paulsen and Young 6-3.
 
Lerfald and Stone were paired together as Linfield No. 1 singles team for the day to excellent results, having to walk away from a back-and-forth match with Hubert Theriault and Luca Prino that was tied at 5-5 before going unfinished due to the doubles point being clinched by the Vikings from the lower two contests.
 
"This was one of those matches that I am so glad we get to play because our boys, win or lose, learn so much," said Mansfield on Sunday. "They fought hard top to bottom but most importantly they were able to see the little things that separate our program from a DI program like Portland State."
 
Singles play on Saturday was highlighted for the Wildcats by a valiant effort from Paulsen at No. 4, taking Elliott to the wire in a 10-point tiebreak for a third set eventually won by the Portland State sophomore.
 
Paulsen jumped out in front with a 7-5 win in the first set, but Elliott responded to force the tiebreak and eventually take the flight 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8).
 
Singles play prior to that saw a 6-1, 6-2 loss for Lerfald at the hands of Prino at No. 1 and a 6-1, 6-3 loss for Stone to Theriault at No. 2, as well as Rosenquist falling 6-2, 6-0 to Cravanzola at No. 3
 
Paulsen's long-winded contest was the final of the day to conclude, while Zuellig beat Acharya 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles and Kuzsynski outlasted Young 6-1, 6-1 to complete the Portland State sweep.
 
"We were in every single match and fought hard," said Mansfield. "The key now is to take what we learned and use that next weekend to turn this 'L' into a 'W'."
 
NEXT
The Wildcats return to NWC action next weekend hosting Lewis & Clark on Saturday, Feb. 22 and Puget Sound on Sunday, Feb. 23.
 
Linfield then heads to eastern Washington the following weekend to visit Whitworth and Whitman. Read Full Article