SALEM, Ore. – Linfield earned its first sweep of the season Sunday in the state capitol cruising to a 7-0 win at Willamette.
The Wildcat victory was highlighted by the first career No. 1 singles win for
Brooks Lerfald and the first singles win for
Matous Young in his senior season.
"This was the third straight match we have started with great energy in doubles and after 3 straight tough losses we finally put it all together and dominated start to finish," said head coach
Todd Mansfield. "The boys were explosive."
"That carried right over into singles, where they didn't let up. One through six the Cats took charge of every match and controlled the action."
Sunday improved Linfield 2-5 in Northwest Conference play and snapped a three-match losing streak. Willamette fell to 0-7 on the year, all against conference opponents.
DOUBLES
Lerfald and partner
Rogue Stone took control of the top doubles flight early on to earn a 6-3 win against Hudson Snyder and AJ Avansino, while
Abhi Acharya and
Alexander Rosenquist dominated the No. 2 match 6-1 against Bailey Livengood and Zack Olander.
The 'Cats completed the doubles sweep with a 6-3 win for Young and Paulsen at No. 3 over Jack Freeland and Lucas Casano. Sunday's wins were the second of the season for all three pairs as teams.
SINGLES
Linfield continued its momentum right into singles play, taking all six flights by straight sets.
Lerfald commanded the action in the No. 1 contest for a 6-2, 6-1 win against Avansino. It was a breakthrough performance for the redshirt sophomore, who battled through the first seven matches of the season without a win at the top of the ladder before coming out on top Sunday.
Stone earned his second win of the year as Linfield's No. 2, 6-4, 6-4 over Hudson Snyder, while Paulsen improved to 3-3 at No. 3 with a second consecutive win, beating Olander 6-1, 6-3.
At No. 4 singles Rosenquist picked up his second win of the season with a 6-1, 6-2 performance against Livengood while Acharya earned his third win 6-2, 6-4 over Freeland.
The 'Cats completed their sweep thanks to Young controlling the action against Casano 6-4, 6-4 for his first win of the year. Although the win was in hand, the completion of the sweep serves as a keystone achievement for Linfield to end the first half of conference play.
"What I am impressed with is this team finished with two wins after playing everyone in conference," said Mansfield. "That's the same pace as last year, but after losing their No. 1 singles player and a No. 1 doubles and No. 5 singles player, with no recruits added to the roster from the previous regime."
"It shows their growth and willingness to work on their game. I'm very excited for the second go-round and spring break."
NEXT
Linfield plays one more NWC match next weekend in Newberg, Ore. for their second meeting with defending conference champion George Fox (7-1, 6-1).
The Wildcats will then head down to southern California over Linfield's spring break to visit four non-conference opponents from March 24 through March 27. They return to the northwest to visit Lewis & Clark March 29.
