SPOKANE, Wash. – Linfield men's tennis narrowly dropped a heartbreaking match Sunday in the Wildcats' first Northwest Conference contest since March 15, falling 4-3 at Whitworth.
The 'Cats (5-12, 5-6) started off strong by taking the day's doubles point and battled through four three set matches before eventually dropping to the Pirates (9-4, 8-2), who continued their hold on second place in the league standings.
Joey Henderson and
Cameron Paulsen both went 2-0 on the day after teaming for the win at No. 2 doubles and winning three-set flights in singles.
DOUBLES
Linfield had to come from behind to take the doubles point after Whitworth's Connor Judson and Matthew Morrison opened the day with a 6-3 win at No. 3 against
Alexander Rosenquist and
Nick Owens.
But the Wildcats did just that in dramatic fashion as Henderson and Paulsen held on 7-5 at No. 2 to outlast Matt Froslan and Matt Hossack, before top Linfield duo
Brooks Lerfald and
Zac Nakajima won by tiebreak against Whitworth No. 1 squad Ryan Ashley and Henry Preacher 7-6 (7-4) to make the dual match score 1-0, Linfield.
Lerfald and Nakajima improved to an impressive 10-6 on the season while Henderson and Paulsen picked up their sixth win as a duo, all against conference opponents.
SINGLES
The Pirates managed to tie the score at one win apiece with a 6-3, 6-1 win by Preacher over Lerfald at No. 2, the first of just two straight-sets flights on Sunday.
Linfield regained the lead at No. 3 as Paulsen impressed with a comeback win against Ryan 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 to make it 2-1, before Whitworth evened the score once again as it was Morrison's turn to make a comeback at the top of the ladder, bouncing back from a first set tiebreak win by Nakajima to finish out the flight 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4.
Paulsen's win was his eighth of the year, the most for any Wildcat on the season so far.
Whitworth took its first lead of the day 3-2 at No. 5 as Froslan beat Rosenquist 6-2, 6-3, before Henderson then managed to tie it again with a clutch three-setter at No. 4, outlasting Judson 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The match came down to the final flight, where freshman Orozco faced Hossack at No. 6. The Wildcat freshman gave an admirable effort with a bounce-back win in the second frame to force a third set, but eventually it was Hossack who won the day for the Pirates with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 finish to set the team score at 4-3, Whitworth.
NEXT
Linfield plays its final of six consecutive road matches on Saturday, April 4 at 11 a.m. PDT in Forest Grove, Ore. against the Pacific Boxers (5-9, 5-5) in a contest with NWC Championship tournament implications. Pacific sits in fifth place and Linfield in sixth in the league standings, both just behind 5-4 George Fox, currently holding the final of four NWC postseason seeds.
Saturday will serve as a split-venue double-header for the 'Cats as Linfield will return to McMinnville for their first home match since March 15 and final non-conference match of the year against UC-Santa Cruz at 3:30 p.m.
