By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University's #1 doubles team of Andrew Kabacy (Grad., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS) and Velibor Mladenovic (Fy., Belgrade, Serbia/First Belgrade Grammar School) edged out Jake Gibson and Jacob Daniell of East Texas Baptist University in a tie-breaker, but the Tigers downed the Bearcats 7-2 in the overall match on Wednesday, March 15 at the Salem Tennis and Swim Club.

ETBU upped its season record to 7-7. Willamette moved to 0-9 overall.

Kabacy and Mladenovic took the win at #1 doubles 8-7 by outscoring Gibson and Daniell 7-3 in the tie-breaker. Kabacy also registered a narrow victory at #1 singles, as he defeated Sam Black in a super tie-breaker played instead of a third set. In the first set, Kabacy won 6-2, while Black took the second set in a tie-breaker 7-6 (7-4). Kabacy won the super tie-breaker 10-7.

At #2 doubles, the ETBU pairing of Black and Bruno Brocanelli downed Quentin Nigbur (Sr., Newberg, OR/Newberg HS) and Andrew Kropp (Sr., Bend, OR/Summit HS) of Willamette, 8-3. The Tigers also won at #3 doubles, as Zachary Couch and Max Kareno defeated Andre Lief (So., Anchorage, AK/West Anchorage HS) and Luca Casano (Fy., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School), 8-1.

East Texas Baptist won the five singles matches beneath Kabacy's victory at #1, but the wins earned by the Tigers at the #2 and #3 positions were by close margins. In the #2 match, Brocanelli rallied to outlast Mladenovic in a super tie-breaker, 4-6, 6-3, 10-3. At #3 singles, Gibson held off Nigbur in both sets, winning 7-5 and 6-4.

Slade Austin of ETBU downed Kropp 6-1 in the first set at #4 singles, before edging Kropp 6-4 in the second set. The #5 singles match went to Couch, 6-0, 6-0, against Lief. Daniell won #6 singles over Trey Allen (So., Tucson, AZ/BASIS Tucson North HS), 6-0, 6-2.

Willamette's next match is set for Monday, March 27, when the Bearcats will  host Colorado College. Match time is scheduled for 11 a.m. (PDT).