Willamette Men's Tennis Team Announces Recruits for 2018-19 Season

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University men's tennis Head Coach Rick Wood has announced the recruiting class for the 2018-19 season. The class for the Bearcats includes two freshman, both from the State of Washington.

Joining the Bearcats will be Andrew Kabacy from Vancouver in western Washington just north of Portland, Oregon, and Charles Pezeshki from Pullman in eastern Washington near Spokane.

"I am excited for both Andrew and Charles as incoming freshman and know that they will both make an immediate impact on our team this year," Wood commented. "Both bring doubles experience, which makes them so valuable as welcome additions to our team."

Here are the members of Willamette's recruiting class for the 2018-19 season:

Andrew Kabacy (Fr., Vancouver, WA/Skyview HS) won back-to-back Washington Class 4A State Singles Championships during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He also helped Skyview High School with Class 4A State Team Championships in 2017 and 2018. This year, he defeated Clemente Varas of Eastlake High School (Sammamish), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, in the singles championship match. Kabacy led 5-2 in the third set, before Varas won two games in a row. Kabacy won the match by recording a service break.

Coach Wood on Kabacy:

"Andrew has a complete all-round game and brings match experience, as he won his State high school singles tourney for the second year in a row," Wood said. "Andrew will be competing for one of the top spots on the team."

The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver chose Kabacy as the Regional Player of the Year each of the past three seasons, while also naming him to the All-Region Team for three consecutive years. On his way to earning consecutive Class 4A State singles titles, Kabacy won two district singles championships and two bi-district singles titles.

Charles Pezeshki (Fr., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS) played two full years of tennis and one partial year of tennis at Pullman High School, before graduating early and attending a short course at a coding academy in Portland, Oregon. While playing tennis at Pullman, he was team captain as a sophomore and a junior. He was undefeated during the regular season of his sophomore year.

Coach Wood on Pezeshki:

"Charles has a solid game and will help the depth of our team. He will be challenging the top six travel team," Wood said.

Pezeshki has started his own business with a friend, detailing vehicles. As a high school student, he worked on a integrated design team at Washington State University that created an experiment on growing plants in space. The experiment went to the International Space Station in May of 2018. An all-around athlete, Pezeshki is a semi-pro freeride skier and a high level kayaker.