MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Clinched by
Abhi Acharya's win at No. 5 singles, Linfield rose up for its first win of the 2025 campaign holding on 4-3 against Puget Sound on Saturday inside Rutschman Fieldhouse.
Despite Linfield not earning the day's opening point via doubles play, Acharya and partner
Rogue Stone battled to a 7-5 win at No. 2 doubles to avoid the sweep for the Wildcats. Stone also went unbeaten on the day with a win for Linfield at No. 4 singles.
After the Loggers took the early lead, the 'Cats managed to turn their fortunes around in singles to secure the victory with strong play in the middle of the lineup. It's the first Linfield win under first-year head coach
Todd Mansfield.
"After a slow start I was very worried but the boys stepped their game up and turned it around," said Mansfield. "It was wonderful to have Rogue and Abhi, two veterans of this program, close it out back-to-back and help engineer my first Wildcat win. Here's to many more."
Linfield moved to 1-3 (1-2) with the win while Puget Sound fell to 1-4 (1-3).
DOUBLES
Acharya and Stone's win at the No. 2 flight served as the highlight for Linfield in doubles competition and gave the Wildcats important momentum going into singles after Puget Sound took wins at the top and bottom of the doubles card.
Linfield's No. 2 squad put together a gritty 7-5 win that concluded doubles action, taking down Puget Sound's Tyler Blixt and Trent Beckman. It was the first win as a duo for Acharya and Stone.
Will Church and Jason Rowe secured the day's doubles point for the Loggers with a 6-2 win over
Brooks Lerfald and
Cameron Paulsen, following a 6-3 win for Carson Ward and Jackson Stumpf against
Cody Pickar and
Alexander Rosenquist at No. 3.
SINGLES
The 'Cats found themselves down 2-0 when Rowe topped Lerfald 6-3, 6-2 in the top flight, but Paulsen quickly got Linfield on the board with a straight sets win of his own at No. 3 singles, 6-4, 6-3 over Ward.
Rosenquist then tied the match score at 2-2 by closing out the day's only three-set match in the No. 2 match, outlasting Church 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
It was Stone who put Linfield in front 3-2 by holding off Beckman 7-5, 6-3 at No. 4 before Acharya clinched the match for Linfield thanks to a dominant second set, beating Blixt 6-4, 6-1.
The Loggers salvaged another point at the end of the lineup with Stumpf beating Pickar 6-3, 6-4 to set the final score at 4-3.
NEXT
The Wildcats will prepare in the upcoming days for their eastern Washington road swing next weekend visiting Whitworth in Spokane and Whitman in Walla Walla. The Pirates are 1-3 (1-2) while the Blues sit at 3-1 (3-0) in first place in the Northwest Conference.
Linfield will play Whitworth at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 1 and Walla Walla at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 2.
