MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Season-long progress was shown by Linfield Sunday inside Rutschman Fieldhouse, where the Wildcats took their third consecutive doubles point against first-place Whitman.
Rogue Stone and Brook Lerfald's win to clinch the point against leading Blues duo Noah Baker and Alexander Stage in the top flight highlighted Linfield's "two-out-of-three" morning. The Wildcats' No. 1 team was set up to clinch by
Matous Young and
Cameron Paulsen's win in the No. 3 contest.
Whitman leads the Northwest Conference with an 11-1 record in league play. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranks the Blues as the No. 54 team in Division III and the No. 7 team in the West Region, the highest of any NWC squad.
Baker and Stage are the highest ranked doubles pair in the conference at No. 10 in the West and No. 16 nationally.
It was the first time the 'Cats have won doubles competition against the perennial league power since 2005, they last time they beat the Whitman in a dual match.
"Getting the doubles point against Whitman was big," said head coach
Todd Mansfield. "That's the first time in over 20 years Linfield has taken two of three in doubles from them. We've won eight of our last nine doubles matches over the past three duals and I feel like right now we have three of the best doubles teams in the NWC."
In the end Whitman responded to sweep singles action in the afternoon and win 6-1.
DOUBLES
Young and Paulsen put together one of their best performances of the season in the third doubles flight for their third straight win and fourth in the last five matches. They faced some resistance Whitman's from all-conference pairing of Lucas Huang and Cameron Yang but eventually won 6-4 to set up Lerfald and Stone's clincher.
The top Wildcat duo controlled the action from the opening serve against the ranked Baker and Stage to eventually dispatch them 6-2 and put Linfield in front to open the day 1-0.
A cornerstone victory on the season for the Wildcats, Stone and Lerfald extended their win streak to three as well. Their record improved to a team-leading 7-6, having taken six of their last nine matches together. Baker and Stage saw a four-match win streak come to an end with just their third loss against conference opponents this season.
Whitman had evened the doubles score at 1-1 prior to Linfield's win at No. 1 with a 6-2 win for Artem Manov and Charles Rush against
Abhi Acharya and
Alexander Rosenquist.
SINGLES
Although the Wildcats played competitive tennis up and down the scorecard Whitman showed its championship pedigree in singles, avenging the doubles loss by not dropping a flight the rest of the way.
One of Linfield's most impressive singles performances came from Paulsen in the No. 3 contest against Huang, a first team all-NWC selection in 2024.
Paulsen nearly upset Huang with an impressive second set comeback before Huang hung on in the end to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and avoid his first loss against an NWC opponent this year. All eight of his wins against league competition have come in straight sets, his loss to Paulsen in the second on Sunday the first he's dropped all season.
At the top of the ladder Lerfald faced a tough task against Stage, the ITA's No. 11 ranked singles player in the West. Stage managed the first set before Lerfald gave him more resistance in the second, but Stage eventually won 6-1, 6-3, improving to 12-4 on the year as Whitman's No. 1.
Stone had his work cut out for himself as well at No. 2 against Yang, the ITA's No. 17 ranked player in the region. The Linfield senior gave an admirable performance in both sets, including taking an early lead in the second and forcing to Yang to come from behind for a pressure-filled win that gave Whitman the dual match lead at 2-1.
The Blues clinched victory 4-1 in the fourth singles contest with a win for Manov over Rosenquist, who kept pace with Manov in both sets and nearly forced a third before the Blues' No. 4 won 6-4, 7-5.
"In singles Whitman showed us why they are top-50 in the country, but we put up a big fight," said Mansfield. "I love the way
Brooks Lerfald and
Cameron Paulsen are playing. In fact, Paulsen is the first NWC player to get a set off of Lucas Huang in conference play this year and he almost got two today."
Whitman completed the singles sweep with a rested Alejandro Raffo outlasting Acharya 6-4, 6-0 at No. 5 and Rush beating Young 6-4, 6-1 at No. 6.
"I feel with two more matches left we could still play a major role in deciding who makes the playoffs," said Mansfield. "Now is not a good time to overlook the Wildcats."
The loss dropped Linfield to 3-9 against conference opponents, still good enough for sixth place in the NWC standings with one week left in the season.
NEXT
Linfield plays its final road match of the season Saturday, April 12 in Forest Grove, Ore. against the Pacific Boxers (7-9, 7-5).
The Wildcats then wrap up the season the next day at home against the Willamette Bearcats (0-12, 0-12). Linfield earned its lone sweep on the season visiting Willamette on March 9.
Saturday's match will serve as Senior Day with the program honoring its three seniors. Both of next weekend's matches are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
