Bearcats Win #1 Doubles and #1 Singles in 6-3 Loss at Puget Sound

Andrew Kabacy prepares for a groundstroke. — Andrew Kabacy (Grad., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS)

March 11, 2023

Team Stats

Game Statistics	Willamette	Puget Sound
Score	3	6

Doubles

Kabacy, Andrew / Mladenovic, Velibor def. Smolskis, Mike / Del Barco, Rene 8-4
Henderson, Noah / Beckman, Trent def. Nigbur, Quentin / Kropp, Andrew 8-3
Church, Will / Sawyer, Brayden def. Lief, Andre / Casano, Luca 8-6

Singles

Kabacy, Andrew def. Smolskis, Mike 6-3 , 6-0
Henderson, Noah def. Mladenovic, Velibor 6-3 , 6-4
Nigbur, Quentin def. Del Barco, Rene 6-3 , 6-1
Church, Will def. Kropp, Andrew 6-4 , 6-1
Blakeney, Conor def. Lief, Andre 6-3 , 6-0
Merzbach, Matthew def. Allen, Trey 6-1 , 6-0

By Timothy Walsh, Athletics Communications Assistant

TACOMA, Wash. -- Willamette University earned victories at #1 doubles and #1 singles, but the University of Puget Sound rallied for a 6-3 win over the Bearcats in a Northwest Conference match on Saturday, March 11 at the Tennis Pavilion.

Willamette fell to 0-8 on the season, 0-4 in the NWC. UPS improved to 4-2 overall, 2-0 in conference play.

Andrew Kabacy (Grad., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS) and Velibor Mladenovic (Fy., Belgrade, Serbia/First Belgrade Grammar School) took the #1 doubles match, 8-4, over the Loggers' Mike Smolskis and Rene Del Barco. But Puget Sound pulled even with Trent Beckman and Noah Henderson defeating Andrew Kropp (Sr., Bend, OR/Summit HS) and Quentin Nigbur (Sr., Newberg, OR/Newberg HS), 8-3, at #2 doubles. The decisive third doubles match was a close one, with Andre Lief (So., Anchorage, AK/West Anchorage HS) and Luca Casano (Fy., Honolulu, HI/Punahou School) dropping an 8-6 decision to Will Church and Brayden Sawyer.

Willamette added two additional wins in singles. Kabacy notched a decisive 6-3, 6-0 win over Smolskis at the #1 position, while Nigbur downed Del Barco 6-3, 6-1 in the #3 spot.

Puget Sound earned a narrow win in the #2 match, where Henderson edged past Mladenovic in two close sets, 6-5, 6-4. At #4 singles, Church defeated Kropp, 6-4, 6-1, while Conor Blakeney won against Lief , 6-3, 6-0, at #5, and Trey Allen (So., Tucson, AZ/BASIS Tucson North HS) fell to Matthew Merzbach 6-1, 6-0, at #6.

Willamette will next take on East Texas Baptist University in a non-conference match on March 15 in Salem, Oregon. Match time is set for 4:30 p.m. (PDT).