March 12, 2008

The San Francisco men's tennis team (7-3) hosts four duals in five days beginning with a match-up versus the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday . USF also welcomes Southern Methodist, Cal and UNLV in duals scheduled for Friday, Sunday and Monday, respectively. All contests will be begin at 1 p.m. PDT.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION:

PENN (7-5)

Penn were swept by Cal on Tuesday in the second of their three dual California road trip. The Quakers lost a 4-3 decision to USF's WCC rival Saint Mary's on March 10. Penn won the doubles point but then were only able to win two singles matches as Adam Schwartz won 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4 and Brandon O'Gara won 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (10-8) at No. 6.

NO. 71 SMU (10-5)

SMU lost a 4-3 dual to No. 31 Indiana on March 10 to 1-4 in their last five. In that stretch, along with the Hoosiers, the Mustangs faced No. 15 Oklahoma State, No. 21 VCU and No. 33 Virginia Tech. SMU won the No. 1 doubles spot and then the top three spots in singles. To score their three points, SMU's David Kuczer topped Thomas Richter 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Robin Fahgen defeated Dara McLoughling 6-4, 7-6; and Alex Skrypko over came Phillip Eilers 6-3, 7-5.

NO. 36 CAL (6-5)

The Dons last faced Cal at the second annual Pebble Beach Collegiate Classic on March 18 of 2007. Cal won the dual 5-2 with USF's Thong Tu and Falko Huettenberger winning matches at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Tu topped Daniel Sebescen 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) and Huettenberger defeated Eoin Heavey 7-5, 6-4.

In it's last competition, Cal swept Penn, 7-0, on March 11. The Golden Bears did not lose a single set in it's win over the Quakers. In doubles, Chizever and Pedro Zerbini defeated No. 57 Joseph Lok and Jason Pinksy 8-2, Heavey and Kallim Stewart topped Brandon O'Gara and Eric Riley 8-6, and Jonathan Dahan and Bozhidar Katsarov took a 9-7 decision over Justen Roth and Adam Schwartz.

Prior to facing USF, the Golden Bears will take on SMU on Saturday.

UNLV (5-4)

San Francisco last faced UNLV in the semifinals of the 2005 UNLV Invitational, losing 4-0 to the Rebels. Doubles and the No. 2 and No. 5 singles matches were canceled in the dual.

The UNLV men's tennis team saw its three-match winning streak snapped in a 6-1 loss at 45th-ranked Fresno State late Saturday at the Wathen Tennis Center. Fresno State won all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. In singles play, only one Rebel even won as much as a set, as Wesley Burrows downed Tejesvi Veerepalli on court three, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. At the top position, 93rd-ranked Elliot Wronski was swept by Rudolf Siwy 6-3, 7-5 to mark Wronski's second loss this season in nine dual matches.

Prior to facing USF, the Rebels will face Mississippi State on Wednesday, South Carolina on Thursday and Ball State on Friday.

USF'S LAST DUAL

The San Francisco men's tennis team defeated Sacramento State 5-2 in a non-conference dual Friday afternoon at the Olympic Club.

USF won the doubles points with victories from No. 2 team Thong Tu and Rainer Nachbauer and No. 3 team Mitch Del Rosario and Torin Ching. Tu and Nachbauer disposed of Sacramento State's Sven-David Rueff and Artur Klimenka, 8-6, while Del Rosario and Ching topped Ronan Conlon and Holden Ching in a nail biter, 9-8.

In singles, No. 1 Tu went to three sets with Kiryl Harbatsiuk before finishing him off 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. The Hornets Stryhas and Klimenka won matches at No. 2 and No. 3 to tie the dual at 2-2.

Nachbauer, Falko Huettenberger and Del Rosario answered with three wins from No. 4 to No. 6 putting the dual away for USF. Nachbauer topped H. Ching 6-1 in set one and was up 2-0 prior to Ching retiring for the contest. Huettenberger followed at No. 5 and took care on Conlon 6-2, 6-0. Del Rosario capped the day with a three set battle against Rueff where both sets one and two went to duece with both competitors winning once. In the final set, Del Rosario put together a 10-5 victory.