April 13, 2009

Stockton, Calif. - Playing in their final home match of the 2009 dual match season, the Pacific men's tennis team closed out the year in dominating fashion, downing the visiting Santa Clara Broncos, 7-0, on Monday, April 13.  The win improved the Tigers to 12-5 overall while the Broncos fell to 4-11.  Pacific imporved its home record to 6-2 on the year and ran its win streak to four matches.

From the start the Tigers took hold of the match, grabbing all three doubles matches to take the early 1-0 lead.  In doubles, the Tigers closest match came at the No. 2 spot where sophomore Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) and freshmen Karl-Erik Paaro (Tallinn, Estonia) needed just one service break to hold off Kyle Dandan and Tommy Hicks for the 8-6 victory.  At No. 1 and No. 3, Pacific cruised to 8-3 and 8-2 wins to secure the doubles point.

In singles action, the Tigers put down Broncos early with straight set victories at Nos. 3 - 6 to take the match with five quick points.  Junior Vegerd Veskimagi (Saku, Estonia), Paaro and freshman Ryan Kim (Elk Grove, Calif.) sailed through their matches to secure the victory for the Tigers as the trio each put away their matches without relinquishing more than four games to their opponents.  Pacific would pick up the sweep of Santa Clara with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 as senior Moritz Starke (Bamberg, Germany) and Gramma each put away their matches with wins in the super tie-break. 

The Tigers close out 2009 regular season play on Tuesday, April 14, when they travel to Fresno, Calif. to take on the No. 47 ranked Bulldogs of Fresno State.  The match is scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm

Men's Tennis Results
No. 54 Pacific 7, Santa Clara 0
Hal Nelson Tennis Courts
Stockton, Calif.

Doubles: (Pacific wins doubles point, 3-0)
1. Moritz Starke / Renan Delsin (PAC) def. Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong / Jay Wong (SCU), 8-3
2. Artem Gramma / Karl-Erik Paaro (PAC) def. Kyle Dandan / Tommy Hicks (SCU), 8-6
3. Ryan Kim / Christian Kuehne (PAC) def. Charlie Burke / John Iwanski (SCU), 8-2

Singles:
1. Moritz Starke (PAC) def. Jay Wong (SCU), 6-2, 6-7 (6), 1-0 (6)
2. Artem Gramma (PAC) def. Kyle Dandan (SCU), 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (4)
3. Renan Delsin (PAC) def. Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong (SCU), 6-4, 6-3
4. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) def. Tommy Hicks (SCU), 6-0, 6-4
5. Karl-Erik Paaro (PAC) def. Charlie Burke (SCU), 6-1, 6-3
6. Ryan Kim (PAC) def. John Iwanski (SCU), 6-1, 6-2