By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Andrew Kabacy (Grad., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS) and Quentin Nigbur (Sr., Newberg, OR/Newberg HS) of Willamette University won #1 doubles, and teammate AJ Avansino (So., Reno, NV/Reno HS) prevailed at #3 singles, but the Bearcats fell to California Lutheran University, 7-2, in a men's tennis match on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Salem Tennis and Swim Club. CLU improved to 2-0 on the season. Willamette ended the day at 0-3 overall.

In the #1 doubles match Kabacy and Nigbur outscored Andy Ai and James Truong, 8-6. At #2 doubles, Ethan Sherwood and Raphael Simon of California Lutheran defeated Avansino and Zack Olander (Fy., Bend, OR/Summit HS), 8-4. The #3 doubles match-up was a key battle, as Jake Anderson and Frederick Otto from CLU outlasted Andre Lief (So., Anchorage, AK/West Anchorage HS) and Velibor Mladenovic (So., Belgrade, Serbia/First Belgrade Grammar School) in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (7-3).

Avansino won in three sets at #3 singles. He edged out Anderson in the first set, 7-5, but Anderson took the second set, 6-4. Avansino held off Anderson in the third set, 6-4.

Kabacy of WU and Ai of CLU went into a super tie-breaker instead of a third set after the split the first to set. Ai won the opening set, 6-4, but Kabacy claimed the second set, 6-3. Ai won the match by taking the super tie-breaker, 10-8.

Olander lost a close match for the Bearcats at the #4 singles position, as Truong claimed back-to-back 6-4 wins for the Kingsmen to get through in straight sets. Additional winners for California Lutheran were Sherwood at #2 singles, Jakob Buhler in the #5 singles match, and Otto at #6 singles.

Willamette will play Bellevue College (Wash.) on Sunday, Feb. 18. Match time is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST at the Salem Tennis and Swim Club. It will be an exhibition match for Willamette because Bellevue is a two-year college