By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Andrew Kabacy (Grad., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS) and Velibor Mladenovic (Fy., Belgrade, Serbia/First Belgrade Grammar School) lost three-set battles at #1 singles and #2 singles, respectively, as Willamette University fell to Linfield University, 9-0, in a Northwest Conference men's tennis match on Saturday, March 4 at the Salem Tennis and Swim Club.

Kabacy and Linfield's Wilhelm Saiga played an extremely close match in the first and third sets at #1 singles. Kabacy edged out Saiga in the first set with a narrow tie-breaker victory, 7-6 (7-5). Saiga evened up the match by taking the second set 6-0. In the third set, Saiga held off Kabacy, 7-5.

In #2 singles, Rogue Stone of the Wildcats also had to rally from a set down to defeat Mladenovic, who claimed the first set, 6-2. Stone battled back with a 6-2 win in the second set and another 6-2 win in the third set.

Linfield surged out to a 3-0 lead in doubles. The Wildcats outscored the Bearcats by 8-4 margins in the top two doubles matches. Saiga and Nick Gabelman downed Kabacy and Mladenovic at #1 doubles, while Seth Lee and Brooks Lerfald defeated Quentin Nigbur (Sr., Newberg, OR/Newberg HS) and Andrew Kropp (Sr., Bend, OR/Summit HS) at #2 doubles. The #3 doubles match was won by Stone and Alexander Rosenquist, 8-2, over WU's team of Andre Lief (So., Anchorage, AK/West Anchorage HS) and Luca Casano (Fy., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School).

Winning the #3 through #6 matches in straight sets for Linfield were Lee at #3, Rosenquist at #4, Gabelman at #5, and Matous Young at #6. Lee moved past Nigbur, 6-1, 6-3, while Rosenquist downed Kropp, 6-2, 6-0. Gabelman defeated Trey Allen (So., Tucson, AZ/BASIS Tucson North HS), 6-2, 6-1, and Young earned a 6-2, 6-3 win against Lief.

Willamette will play an NWC match on Sunday, March 5 at Lewis & Clark College. Match time in Portland, Oregon, is set for 11 a.m. (PST).