SALEM, Ore. – Despite falling behind early, Willamette handily dispatched the Linfield men’s tennis club 6-3 Saturday afternoon at the Courthouse Tennis Club.

The Bearcats, ranked 10th in the region, run their record to 3-1 in the Northwest Conference and 3-1 overall. The ninth-ranked Wildcats slip to 2-4 in league play and 2-4 overall.

For the first time in four matches, the ‘Cats had the lead after the doubles flights.

Mark Magdaong and Brent Kingzett topped Willamette’s Michael Baumgartner and Cody Ferguson 8-5. The No. 2 pair Cody Levien and Zachery Lyons (Sr., Vancouver, Wash.) defeated Joshua Wong and Garrett Vincent 8-5.

The Bearcats earned the win in the third doubles match as Matthew Houser and Will Cooper got the best of Tal DeWitt and Tim Wagar 8-4.

Things went south for the ‘Cats in singles action, as Willamette won five of six matches.

Wagar was the sole winner for Linfield, taking Cooper in a super tiebreaker 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (12-10).

"Tim competed like a champion all weekend," said head coach Carl Swanson. "Today he fought back and saved a match point and earned a well deserved victory."

No. 1 Baumgartner defeated Magdaong 6-2, 6-3. Wong earned a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Levien and Ferguson won over DeWitt 6-3, 6-0. Houser prevailed over Kingzett 6-3, 6-3. In the No. 5 match, Vincent picked up the win over Cooper 6-3, 6-0.

"We got the job done in doubles today and fought hard in singles even though we had some tough matchups in game styles," Swanson said. "We’ll take the positives from this match and build upon them going forward."

NEXT: The ‘Cats travel to Spokane for a conference matchup against Whitworth Friday at 3:30 p.m.