March 29, 2008

The San Francisco men's tennis team (10-5) is scheduled to take on West Coast Conference rivals Saint Mary's and Santa Clara this week. The dual versus the Gaels will take place Monday at the Olympic Club with first serve at 1 p.m. PDT. The Dons and Broncos meet Wednesday at Santa Clara's Degheri Tennis Center with serve set for 2:30 p.m. PDT.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

SAINT MARY'S (12-4)

The Dons lost a tough fought match, 5-2, to the Gaels on Februrary 12 in Moraga. The Dons played well in the doubles winning all three doubles matches to take the doubles point and put the Dons up 1-0.

The Gaels, however fought back, winning at No. 2 and 3 singles to take the score to 2-1. Senior Falko Huettenberger continued his strong play winning a tight three set match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, at the No. 5 spot to even it at 2-2. Einar Hart and Thong Tu also went to three sets but were unable to pull through. Tu was ousted on a 6-4 (7-5), 2-6, 7-6 score and Hart on a score of 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

In their last dual, Saint Mary's lost 6-1 to No. 52 Fresno State. All four of the Gaels' losses this season have come at the hands of ranked opponents.

Saint Mary's captured two wins in the dual, earning victories at the No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles positions. Joel Kusnierz was the only Gael to survive the Bulldogs in singles, posting a 6-3, 6-1 win against Mirko Zapletal. The pair of Achim Christner and Marek Dvorak recorded a win in doubles, pushing past Denny Fafek and Taylor Leiby, 8-6.

SANTA CLARA (2-12)

Monday's meeting will be the second of the season for USF and Santa Clara. The Dons won 7-0 over the Broncos on February 28 at the Olympic Club. USF won all nine matches of the dual.

Falko Huettenberger and Asaf Cohen scored a 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles over Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong and Jay Wong. Rainer Nachbauer and Thong Tu took at No. 2 Charlie Burke and Senthil Chidambaram by an 8-1 score. Finally at No. 3, Torin Ching and Mitch Del Rosario topped John Iwanski and Justin Wong, 8-2.

Tu and Cohen defeated J. Wong and Hirakawa-Wong 6-4, 6-0 in singles No. 1 and No. 2. Nachbauer played the most competitive match of the day at No. 3 as Chidambaram took the second set to a 7-5 final after losing 6-4 in set one. Hart topped Just. Wong 6-0, 6-1; Del Rosario beat Burke 6-3, 6-3 and Greg Hom finished on top of Iwanski 6-1, 6-0.

Last Thursday, Santa Clara lost a 7-0 decision to No. 64 Santa Barbara. UC Santa Barbara swept the doubles portion of the dual by 8-4, 8-3 and 8-3 scores, respectively. The Broncos fell in straight sets during singles competition in all but one match-up. At No. 3, Chidambaram won the first set over Josh Finkelstein, 6-4 then battled to 5-7 and 8-10 defeat in sets two and three.

USF'S LAST DUAL

The San Francisco men's tennis team defeated Marquette 5-2 in a non-conference dual at the Olympic Club on March 20.

With wins at the No.1 and No. 2 doubles positions USF took a 1-0 lead. Falko Huettenberger and Asaf Cohen combined to defeat Brett Binkley and Mark Rutherford, 8-2, while Thong Tu and Rainer Nachbauer topped Stephen Shao and Dusan Medan, 8-6 on way to the early jump start.

The Dons were the victors in four of the six singles contests. Tu defeated Trent Hagen in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 and Mitch Del Rosario followed suite with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Binkley at No. 6. Cohen and Einar Hart battled to find the final two points as both found themselves in heated three-set competition. Cohen lost the first set 6-2 to Medan before coming back to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-4. After a 6-2 opening bracket, Hart dropped a 6-3 second set and then had to squeeze through a 7-6 decision in set three to take care of Juan-Martin Paredes.