Boxscore
by Jimmy Chau
PORTLAND, OR.-
George Allen plays the signature match of his career as the Pios find solace in continued improvement on the LC courts.
Doubles action started fairly shakily for both teams as few players could manage to hold serve. All three doubles matches would start off competitively until the Bearcats would find their stride. Zach Hutchinson and Will Agnew Svoboda would come off the courts first with an 8-3 win for the visitors over Muneeb Khan and Gabriel Trepanier. Following soon after, Will Cooper and Garrett Vincent would win by the same tally over Kerry White and Sam Franer. The usually strong serving pair of Allen and Quinn Roth-Carter couldn't hold serve in an 8-2 loss to Michael Baumgartner and Matt Houser. The Bearcats kept coming up with great shots to stifle any Pioneer rally.
In singles action, the depth of the Bearcats would shine as they only give up thirteen total games in the 3-6 singles flights. Roth-Carter would play a fairly strong match at #2 singles but ultimately fell to Will Cooper 6-3, 6-4. The marquee match of the day though would play out at the #1 singles slot. Michael Baumgartner, the 26th ranked singles player in the west region came into the match after having already posted a 6-1, 6-2 win over Allen earlier in the year on the Willamette courts. Unfazed over his showing earlier in the season, Allen would play the most inspired match of his career. Playing in front of a packed visitor's bench, Allen and Baumgartner would go toe to toe for the entire first set. Even playing into the tie-breaker, the two would exchange shot for shot and on set point, it was a questionable ball not called out by Allen that would be the difference. Losing the first set in a heart breaking fashion, Allen could have packed his bags and called it a day. This wasn't going to be the case though as the Pio would continue to play focused and determined as he stormed back to take the second set 6-3. As the crowd started to come alive for both sides, the players continued to serve big and trade momentum back and forth. It came down to a dual of Baumgartner's passing shots and Allen's ability to finish at the net. Inches would literally separate the two as shots that off were barely missing the mark. It was only fitting that another chip and charge to the net by Allen would win the match as the Bearcat narrowly missed his backhand down the line. Coach Gundars Tilmanis was happy to see Allen playing loose and going for his shots. "When you play against a quality player, you have to make things happen and put pressure on them to come up with amazing shots to beat you, and that's what George did today," said Coach Tilmanis.
The Pioneers face the Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville next Friday at 5:00 pm.
