April 27, 2007

Indian Wells, Calif. - The Pacific men's tennis team concluded its 2007 spring season as the No. 5 seeded Tigers suffered a 4-3 loss to No. 4 UC Riverside on Friday, April 27.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-18 on the season, while UC Riverside moved to 10-11 overall.

Pacific fell behind early, dropping the doubles point to the Highlanders to fall behind in the match, 1-0. The Tigers dropped the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles spots to the Highlanders, 8-2 and 8-3, respectively to drop the first point of the match.

In singles competition, the Tigers came out firing, evening the match at 1-1 with an impressive 6-0, 6-3, win by sophomore Moritz Starke (Bamberg, Germany) at the No. 1 position for the Tigers. UC Riverside struck back with a win at the No. 5 position as Jordan Peana was able to take down freshman Chase Oliphant (Indio, Calif.), 6-2, 6-3, to put the Highlanders back on top in the match.

Down one point again the Tigers evened the match up with a win at the No. 3 singles position when freshman Vegerd Veskimagi (Saku, Estonia) came off the court with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. The two teams would split the next two finishes in singles with the Highlanders capturing the No. 2 singles spot while the Tigers took down the point at No. 6 singles.

With the match and a chance to advance to day two of the tournament on the line, the Highlanders Jakop Tadevosian was able to outlast senior Alan Kelly (Dublin, Ireland) in a third a decisive set to win the match up 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Results
No. 4 UC Riverside 4, No. 5 Pacific 3
Indian Wells, Calif.

Doubles:
1. Joe Cartledge / Mark Contreras (UCR) def. Moritz Starke / Vladimir Zdravkovic (PAC), 8-2
2. Jordan Peana / Pedraum Rouhafza (UCR) vs. Vegerd Veskimagi / Alan Kelly (PAC), DNF
3. Gorjan Kovacevic / Hakop Tadevosian def. Robert Price / Pedro Toledo (PAC), 8-3

Order of finish: 1, 3

Singles: 1. Moritz Starke (PAC) def. Mark Contreras (UCR), 6-0, 6-3
2. Joe Cartledge (UCR) def. Vladimir Zdravkovic (PAC), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
3. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) def. Gorjan Kovacevic (UCR), 6-4, 6-2
4. Hakop Tadevosian (UCR) def. Alan Kelly (PAC), 6-2, 1-6, 6-4
5. Jordan Peana (UCR) def. Chase Oliphant (PAC), 6-2, 6-3
6. Robert Price (PAC) def. Dershung Lee (UCR), 6-4, 6-1

Order of finish: 1, 5, 3, 2, 6, 4