NEWBERG, Ore. - Pushing the Northwest
Conference's No. 2 team hard in almost every set, the George
Fox University Bruins played one of their best all-around matches
but eventually took an 8-1 loss to the Linfield College Wildcats in
their next-to-last men's tennis contest of the season Friday
afternoon here at the GFU campus courts.
Scott Barnett was the only match winner for the
Bruins as he prevailed in a last-point thriller with the
Wildcats' Mark Magdaong 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9) in the No. 1
singles match, but the home team made a run at the visitors in
almost every other set. At No. 2 singles, it was Tal DeWitt
over Juan Munoz 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Mitchell Davidson downed Nick
Jenness 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3; Matt Levering squeezed past Pedro Munoz
7-6, 6-7, 1-0 (10-5) at No. 4; Zach Lyons dropped Matt Gardner 6-4,
6-0 at No. 5; and Tal Edman topped Luke Pritchard 6-4, 6-2.
Linfield captured all three doubles to open the
afternoon's play as Magdaong and Brent Kingzett defeated Juan
Munoz and Jennessee 8-3 at No. 1, Matt Kaufman and Cody Levien
edged Barnett and Pedro Munoz 8-6 at No. 2, and Levering and Lyons
nudged Gardner and Pritchard 8-6 at No. 3.
“In doubles, all three matches were very tightly
contested; even the 8-3 loss at No. 1 was a matter of a few
shots,” noted George Fox first-year coach Neal
Ninteman. “In singles, Scott continued his great season
with another impressive win over one of the elite players in the
league, and Juan, Nick, and Pedro were each just
a handful of shots away from wins at 2,3, and 4
respectively.
“It's never fun to come out on the losing end of a match,
but I am very pleased with the quality of tennis we're playing
right now. It is rewarding to be so
competitive with a team as talented and tough as Linfield;
they are one of the top programs in the Northwest and we were right
there with them. Today was another step in the
right direction for our program, and I am confident we'll
build on it.”
George Fox (5-15, NWC 2-13) concludes its season Saturday at
home against Pacific University (4-11, NWC 3-10) at 1:00
p.m. Linfield (13-5, NWC 13-2) hosts Pacific Lutheran
University Saturday at 1:00 p.m. to finish its regular season, then
will continue on to the six-team Northwest Conference Tournament
Apr. 16-17 in Yakima, Wash.
