Abney, Schreiber Notch Wins, but Bearcats Fall to George Fox, 7-2

By Timothy Walsh, Athletics Communications Writer

BEAVERTON, ORE. -- Devin Abney (So., Shoreline, WA/Shorecrest HS/Univ. of Redlands) and Jack Schreiber(So., Solana Beach, CA/The Grauer School) of Willamette University earned victories at #4 and #5 singles, but George Fox University swept the remaining singles matches and all three doubles contests to claim a7-2 team victory in a Northwest Conference men's tennis match on Sunday, April 14 at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center.

George Fox, ranked 10th in the West Region of NCAA Division III, improved its overall record to 13-4 while securing second place in the NWC with an 11-1 conference record.

The Bearcats, ranked #19 in West Region, dropped to 7-10 on the season, 7-5 in the NWC.

Despite Willamette's 7-5 NWC mark, which claimed fourth place in the conference win-loss records, a complex tie-breaker awarded the fourth and final seed in the NWC tournament to Pacific University, which finished 5-10 overall, 4-8 in NWC play.

Each NWC team played four of the other teams once and four of the other teams twice. Every one-match or two-match series was worth one point. Willamette and Pacific each won the series against four opponents, with Pacific managing to do so with only four wins. Pacific held the tie-breaker over WU because the Boxers defeated the Bearcats, 5-4, in their only head-to-head meeting on March 10.

GFU claimed victories in three competitive doubles matches to grab an early advantage in Sunday's match with the Bearcats.

At #1 doubles, Joshua Wong (Sr., Hilo, HI/Hilo HS) and Sam Wexman (Fr., Tiburon, CA/Tamiscal HS) fell to Justin McClain and Shawn Aldrich, 8-4. The Bruins were also victorious at #2 doubles, where Chris Lilley and Peter Brown edged Abney and Schreiber, 8-5.

George Fox claimed a clean sweep of the doubles contests when Preston Mann and Drew Milton defeated Gunnar Lee (Fr., Hilo, HI/St. Joseph School) and Colin Yamaguchi (Fr., Damascus, OR/Clackamas HS), 8-5.

In the singles contests, Abney and Schreiber each won straight sets victories over their opponents. At the #4 spots, Abney defeated Fox's Mann 6-3, 6-4, while Schreiber dispatched Milton 6-2, 6-3 at #5.

The Bruins scored a major upset at #1 singles, however, when McClain defeated Wong in a super tie-breaker 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-5). Coming into the match, Wong was ranked 12th in the West Region and was undefeated against Division III competition.

One other singles contest went into extra frames, as Cooper battled Fox's Aldrich deep into a third set at #3 singles before falling 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. At the #2 spot, Wexman fell to Lilley 6-2, 6-0, while at #6 GFU's Brown eased past Yamaguchi 6-1, 6-1.