Men blank Bearcats

Sara Levering, Staff Writer

In their first outdoor match of the tennis season, the men claimed the victory against Willamette 9-0.

Linfield defeated all three doubles flights versus Willamette. At top doubles, Tyler Linscott, ‘17, and Ben McNair, ‘18, won decisively 8-3 after jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Nathan Saragoza, ‘19, and John Lutaaya, ‘20, won in a tight match 8-5. Eric Rutherford, ‘19, and Carter Pentz, ‘19, won 8-5.

In singles, the Wildcats kept the energy up to solidify their dominance. Linscott won in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. Linscott’s singles match clinched the Wildcats the victory of the day. McNair at two singles and went two sets and a tie breaker and won for the Wildcats eighth win.

Saragoza went three full sets and came out on the winning side dropping the first to reverse sweep his opponent 1-6, 6-1, 6-0. Lutaaya at four singles also went three sets 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

Mangan won both sets in tie-breaks, but stayed strong pulling off the win, 7-6, 7-6. Prussing played six singles and won decisively in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

On the match, “play went really well today. The guys are really proud of the way we were able to go on the road and come home with a 9-0 win,” said Mangan.

“The whole team competed super well today. I’m not sure if a single person on the team would say that they were having a great day hitting the ball, but being able to al pull out close matches in tiebreakers and third sets show the grit we want to be able to bring every match,” said Mangan.

On the last couple matches in the season, “Everyone on the team truly believes that we want it more than George Fox and Whitworth this upcoming week. We want to be able to say that we competed to the best of our abilities and left everything out on the court when our final two matches are over at the end of the week,” said Mangan.
The men’s tennis team are 6-11 overall and 5-5 in the Northwest Conference.