March 31, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - After winning the doubles point, San Francisco (10-6) lost the first four singles' matches to Saint Mary's, as the Gaels defeated the Dons 4-3 Monday afternoon at the Olympic Club.

Torin Ching and Mitch Del Rosario opened the dual with an 8-2 win over Andrea Zannoni and Youssef El Borzoi at the No. 3 position After a Saint Mary's win at No. 1, Thong Tu and Rainer Nachbauer clinched the one point lead with an 8-6 win over Marek Dvorak and Achim Christner.

Lucas Tirelli, Joel Kusnierz, Christner and Dvorak strung together the four wins in the opening moments of the singles' portion of competition to put Saint Mary's ahead for good. Asaf Cohen and Einar Hart both fought valiantly in the losses. After winning the first set, Cohen lost to Dvorak 2-6, 6-0, 6-4. Hart lost a 7-6 first set then was taken down 6-2 by Christner.

Falko Huettenberger and Del Rosario won at No. 5 and No. 6 to close out the dual. Huettenberger topped Zannoni, 6-0, 6-3, while Del Rosario won a 6-0, 6-3 decision over El Borzoi.

USF will next compete at Santa Clara on Wednesday. First serve is set for 2:30 p.m. PDT.

SAINT MARY'S 4, SAN FRANCISCO 3

DOUBLES

No. 1 Kusnierz/Tirelli (SMC) def. Huettenberger/Cohen (USF); 8-6

No. 2 Tu/Nachbauer (USF) def. Dvorak/Christner (SMC); 8-6

No. 3 Ching/Del Rosario (USF) def. Zannoni/El Borzoi (SMC); 8-2

order of finish 3,1,2

SINGLES

No. 1 Joel Kusnierz (SMC) def. Thong Tu (USF); 6-2,6-4

No. 2 Lucas Tirelli (SMC) def. Rainer Nachbauer (SMC); 6-2,6-4

No. 3 Marek Dvorak (SMC) def. Asaf Cohen (USF); 2-6,6-0,6-4

No. 4 Achim Christner (SMC) def. Einar Hart (USF); 7-6(7), 6-2

No. 5 Falko Huettenberger (USF) def. Andrea Zannoni (SMC); 6-0,6-3

No. 6 Mitch Del Rosario (USF) def. Youssef El Borzoi (SMC); 6-0,6-3

order of finish 2,1,4,3,5,6