The Linfield men’s tennis team was outscored 4-5 on Friday against the Austin College Fighting ‘Roos. On Saturday, Linfield pulled ahead of the Bellevue Community College Bulldogs and won 7-2.

Senior Ben McNair and sophomore Luis Rojas came out as the top doubles team Friday night, defeating the ‘Roos’ Kenneth Hardy and Josh Granberry 8-3.

Duo sophomore Nathan Saragoza and junior Trent Prussing weren’t able to capture the ‘Roos’ Andrea Padilla and Travis Fortune with a match score of 4-8. Wildcats junior Eric Rutherford and J.T. Barcellos also fell to the ‘Roos. The Bulldogs’ doubles team Calum Robe and Erik Meendsen defeated them 5-8.

The Wildcats went 3-3 on the singles front. Saragoza defeated ‘Roos’ Granberry 6-1 in both sets. McNair took Padilla 6-3 in set one and 6-2 in the second.

Prussing and the ‘Roos’ Meendsen battled it out going three sets. Meendsen took set one but Prussing fought back and ultimately snagged the last two sets both ending 6-3.

Unfortunately, Rojas fell to the ‘Roos’ Hardy in both sets, Barcellos also lost to the ‘Roos’ Robe and junior Jacob Mangen to Preston Spivey.

“Having only split our matches this weekend is definitely a disappointment, as we feel both were winnable matches, but there were some really great takeaways from this weekend. Ben McNair is playing the best singles I’ve seen out of him and had a great weekend winning all four of his matches. Trent Prussing also had a great emotional win over Austin [College] on Friday,” Mangan said.

The Wildcats came back from the upset on Friday overtaking the Bulldogs.

Again, duo McNair and Rojas were able to come out with the win 8-3 over the Bulldogs’ Edgar Quintero and Emahd Khan. Saragoza and Prussing slammed the Bulldogs’ Rodolfo Bahn and Shu Chantani 8-1.
Sadly, Rutherford and Barcellos were not able to come out on top against the ‘Dogs’ Oscar Cruz and Mikko Curry-Edwards 4-8.

Linfield went 5-1 in singles on Saturday. Rojas overtook the Bulldogs Quintero in a three set match. Rutherford bet Curry-Edwards 6-1 and 6-3. Mangan reversed the order beating Bahn 6-3 and 6-1.

Freshman Cameron Ventura battled out Chantani taking him in the first set but fell in the second. Ventura ultimately took the third set 10-2.

The Wildcats host Pacific at 10 a.m. on March 24.