Bearcats Compete at USTA/ITA Northwest Regional

By Timothy Walsh, Athletics Communications Writer

WALLA WALLA, WASH. -- The Willamette University men's tennis team competed at the USTA/ITA Northwest Small College Championships, hosted by Whitman College this weekend.

In singles competition, Jack Schreiber (Jr., Solana Beach, CA/The Grauer School) provided Willamette's lone victory in the Round of 64, prevailing 6-1, 6-2 over Jacob Christensen. In the second round, however, Schreiber was defeated 6-3, 6-2 by Atanas Atanasov.

In other Round of 64 action,Will Cooper (Sr., Gresham, OR/Centennial HS) fell 6-2, 7-5 to Troy Zuroske, seeded fourth in the tournament, whileSamuel Wexman (So., Tiburon, CA/Tamiscal HS) dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Sam Stadter, seeded ninth.

Rounding out Willamette's singles entries, Devin Abney (Jr., Shoreline, WA/Shorecrest HS/Univ. of Redlands) was defeated 6-4, 6-1 by Clark Wininger, Blake Brash (So., Boise, ID/Boise HS) lost 6-4, 6-2 to Alex Noyes, and Gunnar Lee (So., Hilo, HI/St. Joseph School) fell 6-2, 6-0 against Nick Grafton.

Shrujan Kalidindi (So., Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista HS) was the Bearcats' other entry in the singles competition. He fell 7-5, 6-3 to Christensen in the play-in round on Friday, Sept. 27.

In doubles action, Brash and Kalidindi fell to Chris Engelmann and Shane Sandlin by a razor-thin 9-8 margin. Abney and Cooper lost to Joey Diaz and Petar Jivkov, and Lee and Wexman fell to Joshua Bernstein and Reuben Mulhern, both by 8-3 margins.

The Northwest Regional will continue on Monday, Sept. 30. Winners of the singles and doubles brackets will advance to the USTA/ITA Small College National Championships later this fall.