YAKIMA, Wash. - After earning the sixth seed in a very talented Northwest Conference men's tennis tournament, the Puget Sound Loggers bowed out in the first round, falling to the third-seeded Willamette Bearcats, 5-0, on Friday at the Yakima Tennis Club.

The Bearcats swept through the doubles competition to find themselves just two points away from clinching heading into the individual matches but the Loggers didn't make it easy.  In the number one doubles, freshman Mike Cutter (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain) and sophomore Nick Kelley (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) nearly caught Joshua Wong and Cody Ferguson before falling 9-7.

In singles play, Wong picked up a straight set win over Cutter at the top spot and Matthew Houser earned a 6-3, 6-0 win over senior Scooter Sabel (Sun Valley, Idaho/Community) in the fourth spot to clinch the match for Willamette.  

The Bearcats advanced to the semifinal round to face second-seeded Linfield on Friday evening.  The Loggers end their season with a record of 5-12 overall and 5-11 in NWC play.