Willamette Men's Tennis Competes at Ojai Valley Tournament

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

OJAI, CALIF. -- The Willamette University men's tennis team competed at the prestigious 111th Ojai Valley Tournament on Friday, April 21. Highlighting the day's schedule was a victory by Cody Ferguson (Jr., North Bend, OR/North Bend HS/Western Oregon Univ.) over Ben Inchalik of California Lutheran University in the first round of the NCAA Division III Singles Bracket.

Ferguson won the match in straight sets, using a tie-breaker to take the first set, before prevailing, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1. In the second round, Ferguson lost to Parker Larsen from the University of California-Santa Cruz defeated Ferguson, 6-2, 6-2. Larson is one of several athletes seeded #9 in the singles bracket. Ferguson ended the season with a 12-6 record this spring.

With the win over Inchalik and the loss to Larsen, Ferguson ended the season with an overall singles record of 12-6 this spring.

Joshua Wong (So., Hilo, HI/Hilo HS) of Willamette played a three-set match in singles against Ian Stanley from the UC-Santa Cruz. Stanly won the first and third sets to edge out Wong, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

Also in singles, Michael Baumgartner (So., Albany, OR/West Albany HS) of WU lost to Victor Chien from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Chien won a close first set on his way to a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

Ferguson and Wong played a solid match against the #5-seeded double team of Stanley and Erik Rosner from UC-Santa Cruz, as Wong competed against Stanley for the second time on Friday. In the doubles match, Stanley and Rosner outscored Ferguson and Wong, 8-3.

Baumgartner and Matthew Houser (Sr., Vancouver, WA/Evergreen HS) also competed for Willamette in the NCAA Division III Doubles Bracket. Mark Bloom and Connor Hyde from the University of Redlands downed Baumgartner and Houser, 8-1.

The Ojai Valley Tournament was Willamette's final competition of the 2010-11 season. The Bearcats ended their dual match season on April 17 with a second place finish at the Northwest Conference Tournament in Walla Walla, Wash. Willamette ended the dual schedule with a 13-6 overall record. The Bearcats were 11-1 (2nd place) in the NWC during the regular season.