Feb. 28, 2009

Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific men's tennis team delivered one of its best matches of the 2009 season with a 5-2 victory over No. 60 BYU on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The victory lifted the Tigers to 4-3 on the season, while BYU dropped to 7-3 overall.

The afternoon match got off to a good start for Pacific as the Tigers took the doubles point behind victories from the team of senior Moritz Starke (Bamberg, Germany) and junior Renan Delsin (Santa Cruz da Conceicao, Brazil) at the No. 1 position and freshman Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany) and Karl-Erick Paaro (Tallinn, Estonia) from the No. 3 slot. After BYU tied the match at 1-1 in singles competition the Tigers won three of the next four singles matches to claim the match. Sophomore Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) earned a 6-3, 6-1 over BYU's Thomas Shubert to start the Tigers' rally. Kuehne followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Daniel Hwang (BYU), then Starke downed BYU's Evan Urbina 6-3, 7-5 to make it 4-1 in favor of Pacific.

The Tigers' final point of the match came in a thrilling comeback for junior Vegerd Veskimagi (Saku, Estonia), who rallied from a 7-6 (6) loss in the first set to take his match against Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 7-5, and 1-0 (8).

Pacific returns to action on Sunday, Mar. 1 as the Tigers travel to Moraga, Calif. to face Saint Mary's at 12 p.m.

Men's Tennis Results
Pacific 5, No. 60 BYU 2
Hal Nelson Tennis Courts

Doubles: (Pacific wins doubles point, 2-1)
1. Moritz Starke / Renan Delsin (PAC) def. Evan Urbina / Thomas Shubert (BYU), 8-5
2. Daniel Hwang / Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Artem Gramma / Ryan Kim (PAC), 8-6
3. Karl-Erik Paaro / Christian Kuehne (PAC) def. A.J. Young / Georgy Batrakov (BYU), 8-6

Order of Finish:
3, 1, 2

Singles:
1. Moritz Starke (PAC) def. Evan Urbina (BYU), 6-3, 7-5
2. Artem Gramma (PAC) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU), 6-3, 6-1
3. Roman Warias (BYU) def. Renan Delsin (PAC), 7-5, 7-5
4. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 1-0 (8)
5. Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Karl-Erik Paaro (PAC), 6-1, 6-0
6. Christian Kuehne (PAC) def. Daniel Hwang (BYU), 6-3, 6-1

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