By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- It was a beautiful, sunny day and a great day to play tennis on Friday, March 9 in Salem, Ore. It turned out to be a great day for the Willamette University men's tennis team, which defeated the University of Puget Sound, 9-0, in an outdoor match at the WU Tennis Courts.

With the win, the Bearcats improved to 3-1 on the season, 3-1 in the Northwest Conference. Puget Sound dropped to 0-7 overall, 0-6 in the NWC.

Willamette played well throughout the afternoon and Head Coach Toby Krauel said he was pleased with the overall performance. Krauel singled out two members of his team for their exceptional play.

"Josh Wong played phenomenal tennis and I'm really impressed with how Will Cooper played in both singles and doubles," Krauel said. "We're getting better and better."

Wong (Jr., Hilo, HI/Hilo HS) earned a lopsided win at #1 singles, as he defeated Ben Miller of UPS, 6-0, 6-1. Wong also helped Willamette build a 3-0 lead during the doubles matches, as he combined with Cody Ferguson (Sr., North Bend, OR/North Bend HS/Western Oregon Univ.) to win at the #2 position, 8-1, over George Murphy and John Stevens.

The #1 doubles match went to the Willamette team of Garrett Vincent (So., Seattle, WA/Seattle Prep/Bellevue CC) and Devin Abney (Fr., Shoreline, WA/Shorecrest HS/U. of Redlands), who outlasted Miller and Mike Cutter, 9-7. At #3 doubles, Will Cooper (So., Gresham, OR/Centennial HS) and Cameron Thompson (Jr., Torrance, CA/North Torrance HS) of WU defeated Abe Noyes and Jake Peterson, 8-4.

WU secured wins in the first four singles matched to be completed, as the Bearcats increased their lead to 7-0. Wong's victory at #1 singles led the way. Ferguson downed Cutter at #2 singles, 6-3, 6-3, and Cooper surged by Stevens, 6-1, 6-0, at #4 singles. The #6 singles match was won by Will Agnew-Svoboda (So., Corvallis, WA/Corvallis HS), 6-0, 6-2, against Michael Tieu.

Vincent at #3 singles and Abney at #5 singles won close battled to complete the shutout. Vincent won the first set over Murphy, 6-3, but needed a tie-breaker to take the second set, 7-6 (7-3). Abney rolled through the first set against Noyes, 6-1, before Noyes tied things up with a 7-5 win in the second set. Abney prevailed in a back-and-forth super tie-breaker played instead of a third set, 12-10.

The Bearcats will host Pacific Lutheran University in NWC action on Saturday, March 10. Match time is set for 2 p.m. (PST) at the Courthouse Tennis Club, located at 1379 Madison St. NE in Salem.