Feb. 26, 2010
San Luis Obispo, Calif. - With the score tied 3-3 going into doubles play, the Pacific men's tennis team pulled out wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions to earn its first win of the season over San Diego 4-3, Friday afternoon.
Pacific improved to 1-3 with the win while the Toreros fell to 6-2.
"It was a total team effort today and a good win for the team," said Head Coach Matt Lucas.
The threat of rain forced the teams to play out singles matches first. Pacific trailed 1-0 when sophomore Ivan Garcia-Castro (Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil) took on No. 82 Nikola Bubnic at the No. 2 position. After dropping the first set 6-4, Garcia-Castro rebounded to win the next two sets (6-3, 6-3) to take down his first ranked opponent this season.
Losses at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions put the Tigers down 3-1 before Karl-Erik Paaro (Tallinn, Estonia) defeated Nils Schive in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) in the No. 5 position. Senior Vegerd Veskimagi (Saku, Estonia) then had the chance to tie the dual match with a win over Abdullah Hashem at the No. 6 position. After winning the first set 6-4, he dropped set two (4-6), but outlasted Hashem to take the deciding third set 7-5.
"I knew it would be a battle and we handled the nerves and adversity pretty well," Lucas said. "I'm very proud of the way we competed."
In their first match together since the Bulldog Classic on Oct. 23, 2009, Veskimagi and Paaro were unable to find their rhythm at the No. 1 doubles position and fell to Schive and Dean Jackson, 8-6. No. 87 Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) teamed with Garcia-Castro at the No. 2 position to earn the pair's second doubles win of the season, 8-6, over Charl Worlmans and Thibaut Visy. But it was Renan Delsin (Santa Cruz da Conceicao, Brazil) and Fernando Ristow (Curitaba, Brazil) who easily handled their opponents at the No.3 position, winning 8-2 to secure the match for the Tigers.
"The doubles were high pressure and we played fearless tennis," added Lucas. "Hopefully we take some confidence from this win moving forward to two tough conference matches."
Due to weather conditions, Pacific's next match will take place on Sunday, Feb. 28 against UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. The Tigers' match against Cal Poly has been postponed until Monday, March 1 at 11 a.m.
PACIFIC MEN'S TENNIS
Pacific 4, San Diego 3
Friday, February 26, 2010
San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Doubles
1. Jackson/Schive (USD) def. Veskimagi/Paaro (PAC) 8-6
2. Gramma/Garcia-Castro (PAC) def. Worlmans/Visy (USD) 8-6
3. Delsin/Ristow (PAC) def. Bubnic/Hashem (USD) 8-2
Singles
1. Dean Jackson (USD) def. No. 87 Artem Gramma (PAC) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
2. Ivan Garcia-Castro (PAC) def. No. 82 Nikola Bubnic (USD) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. Charl Worlmans (USD) def. Fernando Ristow (PAC) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Thibaut Visy (USD) def. Renan Delsin (PAC) 6-4, 6-2
5. Karl-Erik Paaro (PAC) def. Nils Schive (USD) 6-2, 6-2
6. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) def. Abdullah Hashem (USD) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
