By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Four Willamette University men's tennis players lost in the first round of singles on Saturday, Sept. 22 at the ITA Northwest Regional, but Colin Fisher (Jr., Caldwell, ID/Thomas Jefferson Charter School) and Andrew Kabacy (Fr., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS) each rebounded with a win in the consolation singles bracket.
The tournament is being hosted by Whitman College and is sponsored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Action will continue through Monday, Sept. 24.
In the first round of the championshp singles competiton, Fisher lost to Jack Fleming of Whitman, 6-2, 6-2. Kabacy fell to Nishaant Limaye of Whitman, 6-3, 6-1. Aaron Schechter (Sr., Seattle, WA/James A. Garfield HS) dropped a close match to Riley Vickers of Lewis & Clark College in a super tie-breaker played instead of a third set. Vickers won 4-6, 6-4, 10-7. Also in the first round, Gene Perle-Jones (Jr., Eugene, OR/North Eugene HS) of Wilamette lost to 13th-seeded Luis Rojas of Linfield College, 6-2, 6-1.
Fisher won his first consolation singles match over Jake Kim of Pacific Lutheran University, 6-0, 6-2. Kabacy also reached the second round of the consolation bracket by defeating Marcus Lee of PLU, 6-3, 6-3. Fisher will take on Garrett Katayama from Pacific University on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 9 a.m. (PDT), while Kabacy will battle Will McDermott from Lewis & Clark, also at 9 a.m.
Perle-Jones and Schechter were defeated in the opening round of consolation singles. Aiden Velasco from University of Puget Sound defeated Perle-Jones, 6-1, 7-5. Jake Bethards of Whitworth University outscored Schechter, 6-4, 6-2.
The Bearcats suffered two losses in the first round of the main doubles draw. Fisher and Perle-Jones fell to the 5th-seeded team of Alex Namba and Luke Lemaitre from George Fox University, 8-2. Kabacy and Schechter were downed by Joey Hu and Reyn Miayagawa of Pacific, 8-2. In the opening round of doubles consolation matches, Kabacy and Schechter dropped a very close match to Bear Lee and Eric Lim of Whitman, 9-7. Fisher and Perle-Jones were scheduled to take on Velasco and Ben Colso of Puget Sound in doubles consolation action.