April 26, 2008
Indian Wells, Calif. - After taking down UC Riverside in the first round of the Big West Championships yesterday, the Pacific men's tennis team returned to action on April 26 as they defeated UC Irvine by a score of 4-3 in Indian Wells, Calif. to earn a spot in Sunday's championship match. With the win, the Tigers improved their overall record on the season to 11-12 on the year and to 5-2 against Big West opponents, while the Anteaters fell to 11-14 on the season with the loss and are now 4-2 against Big West rivals this year.
In the match, the No. 3 seeded Tigers earned the doubles point on the afternoon as they earned victories in two of the three doubles matches on the day. Moritz Starke (Bamberg, Germany) and Renan Delsin (Santa Cruz da Conceicao,Brazil) teamed up to defeat UC Irvine's Alex Sundling and Zac Tsai by a score of 8-2 at the No. 1 doubles position, while Artem Gramma (Guayaquil, Ecuador) and Vegerd Veskimagi (Saku, Estonia) defeated Trevor Dobson and Khunpol Issara at the No. 3 spot 8-4.
Earning singles victories for the Tigers were Starke, Delsin, and Gramma. Starke defeated Sundling at the no. 1 position, while Delsin defeated Dobson at the No. 3 spot and Gramma defeated Issara at the No. 4 position. Starke and Delsin each won their matches in straight sets, while Gramma came back to win after losing the first set of his match to clinch the Tiger victory and to ensure their place in the championship match tomorrow.
The Tigers will now take on UCSB in the championship match of the Big West Championships tomorrow (April 27) at 9:00 a.m. The match will be played on courts 10-15 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, Calif.
DOUBLES
Moritz Starke / Renan Delsin (PAC) def. Alex Sundling / Zac Tsai (UCI), 8-2
Victor Lamm / Ajay Ahluwalia (UCI) def. David Gonzalez / Austin Kakar (PAC), 8-2
Artem Gramma / Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) def. Trevor Dobson def. Khunpol Issara (UCI), 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
Moritz Starke (PAC) def. Alex Sundling (UCI) 6-1, 6-4
Victor Lamm (UCI) def. David Gonzalez (PAC) 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1
Renan Delsin (PAC) def. Trevor Dobson (UCI) 6-3, 6-2
Artem Gramma (PAC) def. Khunpol Issara (UCI) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Ryan Mayer (UCI) def. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) 7-6 (4), 6-2
Stephen Stege (UCI) def. Austin Kakar (PAC) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 6, 2, 5, 4
