Men’s tennis saw improvements on Saturday Feb. 22 in both in singles and doubles, but still resulted in a 9-0 loss against Whitworth College.
The Wildcats didn’t lack competitive drive even though two of their players were injured, which caused them to forfeit two matches because they didn’t have a full team.
“Fridays loss to the reigning conference champs actually gave us confidence going into Saturday because we all felt like we played well and surprised a very talented team with how hard we played,” junior and captain Lukas Kleinman said, “We definitely improved from Friday to Saturday because we listened to our coaches advice and tried to use different strategies and patterns.”
Spencer Beck/Staff photographer
Freshman Kelsey Rosborough and Kleinman, lost a very close doubles match, 8-6, against the Whitworth pair.
Rosborough was a standout this weekend, according to Kleinman, he lost a very close singles match, 6-2, 6-7(6-8), 9-11.
Junior and Captain Micah Roos and sophomore Tim Hawkins lost their doubles, 3-8, but improved across the board since Friday against Whitman, in both doubles and singles.
“Saturday we played a lot better,” Hawkins said. “We were competitive as a team, and a few points here and there would have been a different outcome. We are showing a lot of growth already.”
In singles, Roos lost 6-3, 6-3. Hawkins also lost his singles, 6-2, 6-4 and sophomore Nick Konen lost 6-0, 6-0 after having to sit out his doubles match due to forfeit.
“Micah and I saw a lot of growth in the younger guys this weekend and those were two of the best teams in the conference so, although we are disappointed that we lost, we see something to build on,” Kleinman said.
Linfield visits University of Puget Sound March 1 for the next Northwest Conference matchup.
Rachael Gernhart/Staff Writter
