MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Linfield nearly made a furious comeback thanks to strong mid-ladder play but fell 4-3 at home Sunday to the Lewis & Clark River Otters.
Despite losing the doubles point the Wildcats (3-7, 3-4) got things started with a top end win from No. 1 duo
Brooks Lerfald and
Zac Nakajima, and saw strong singles play throughout the day, but eventually the River Otters (4-7, 4-3) got deciding wins at the top of the singles card as well as in the day's final flight.
There are matches where you learn a lot about your team," said head coach
Todd Mansfield. "Today I learned my team has got grit. They never gave up. Down 3-0, they mounted an amazing comeback."
DOUBLES
The Wildcats struck first thanks to strong play out of the gate from Lerfald and Nakajima, facing top Lewis & Clark pair Kai Wills and Noah Sutin. Linfield's top team handled a 6-2 win to improve to 5-4 on the season as a duo.
"Brooks and Zac showed once again why they are one of the top teams in the conference," said Mansfield. "I loved the opponent's comment after the match, 'Wow, that was fast.'"
But the River Otters earned the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 wins, Spencer Loucks and Kaden Sigurdsson over
Joey Henderson and
Cameron Paulsen at No. 2 and Arnav Bishnoi and Wade McDermott against
Nick Owens and
Alexander Rosenquist at No. 3.
SINGLES
After playing doubles on the indoor courts in Rutschman Fieldhouse due to cold temperatures and inclement weather, play moved outdoors to the Linfield Tennis Center courts when conditions seemed to be improving.
But after roughly 45 minutes of play conditions began to worsen again, forcing the action back indoors. With matches being played on all six outdoor courts but only three available indoors, flights four, five and six were forced to wait for well over an hour before resuming play.
Not long after moving inside the Wildcats found themselves down 2-0 when Nakajima lost to Sutin 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2. The River Otter lead expanded to three when Lerfald's individual comeback effort came up short at No. 1 against Siggurdson, who was able to win in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
On the brink of defeat, the 'Cats were injected with new life when Paulsen fended off a comeback from Wills at No. 3 to win a three-set match of his own 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and get Linfield on the board at 3-1.
It was Paulsen's third win in his last four matches for the Wildcats, all coming in three sets, and his fourth of the season against zero losses when playing as Linfield's No. 3.
From there Rosenquist handled business in the No. 4 contests, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 over Bishnoi to make the match score 3-2 before Henderson drew the score even with a commanding 6-3, 6-1 win against McDermott at No. 5.
The match came down to a senior vs. freshman matchup at No. 6 between Loucks and Linfield first-year
Gavin Orozco, who entered Sunday on the hunt for his fifth win of a strong freshman season.
But it was the veteran who came out on top to lift the River Otters to victory in the end, taking the hard-fought flight 6-3, 6-4 to set the final match score at 4-3.
"Joey and Alexander were big time with their straight set wins," said Mansfield. "Cameron won his second straight three-setter. All of this and the growth of the other players gives me immense confidence heading in to the second half of the season."
NEXT
Linfield continues its three-match home stand Saturday when the 'Cats kick off the second half of conference play by looking for a season sweep of Puget Sound (0-9, 0-7) in McMinnville at 11 a.m., before trying to accomplish the same feat hosting the Willamette the next day.
They then take a two-week break from league action with a swing through California over Linfield University's spring break, where the Wildcats will take on four opponents all ranked nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
