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

HONOLULU, HAWAII -- Will Cooper (So., Gresham, OR/Centennial HS) and Will Agnew-Svoboda (So., Corvallis, OR/Corvallis HS) each recorded wins for Willamette University in singles, but the Bearcats fell to nationally ranked Hawaii Pacific University, 7-2, on Saturday, March 24. Hawaii Pacific, ranked #21 in NCAA Division II, improved to 7-3 on the season. Willamette, which competes in NCAA Division III, dropped to 3-5.

HPU received its national ranking on Feb. 29. More recently, the Sea Warriors were listed at #1 in the West Region rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on March 21.

The Sea Warriors built a 3-0 lead with wins in the doubles matches.

At #1 doubles, Petr Michnev and Patric Guenther defeated Joshua Wong (Jr., Hilo, HI/Hilo HS) and Cody Ferguson (Sr., North Bend, OR/North Bend HS/Western Oregon Univ.), 8-1. At #2 doubles, Adriana Locorotondo and Georgi Yordanov downed Garrett Vincent (So., Seattle, WA/Seattle Prep/Bellevue CC) and Devin Abney (Fr., Shoreline, WA/Shorecrest HS/U. of Redlands), 8-0.

In #3 doubles, the HPU team of Gerald Moretti and Ji Hoon Heo earned an 8-1 victory over Cooper and Cameron Thompson (Jr., Torrance, CA/North Torrance HS).

Hawaii Pacific earned wins at #1, #2, #3 and #6 doubles, but Cooper and Agnew-Svoboda prevented a sweep.

Cooper rallied after losing the first set to win #4 singles over Joshua Kakugawa, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-8. Cooper prevailed in both tie-breaker for the second set as well as a super tie-breaker played instead of a third set. Agnew-Svoboda defeated Keita Ueno in the #5 singles match, 6-4, 6-2.

The top singles match was won by Moretti of HPU, who defeated Wong, 6-2, 6-1. Ferguson of Willamette provided a solid challenge at #2 singles, before falling to Stephan Weling, 6-4, 6-2.

The Bearcats will play three more matches on the island of Oahu to complete their trip to Hawaii. They will take on the University of Hawaii-Hilo on Sunday, March 25, before playing Brigham Young University-Hawaii on Monday, March 26 and Tuesday, March 27.