Feb. 21, 2010
SAN DIEGO - The University of San Diego men's tennis team tacked on its fifth win of the dual-match season Sunday evening, downing UNLV at home by a final of 4-2, while competing at the USD West Tennis Courts.
San Diego improves to a convincing 5-1 overall record and a perfect 5-0 at home, while the Rebels fall to 5-5, dropping their fourth straight match.
Due to the threat of impending rain, competition kicked off with singles action just after the 12 p.m. mark. Soon after, clouds would cover the West Courts and premonitions of precipitation would come true, forcing match play to be suspended for the next four hours.
The match would resume just after 4 p.m., as the skies above the Mesa would clear and the courts were now free of puddles, thanks to a thorough `squigging' effort by the USD operations crew, headed by Andy Fee, Assoc. AD/Facilities and Operations.
No stranger to rain delays, having encountered four rain-outs already this spring campaign, San Diego would step out of the gates raring to go, taking the first match at Court #2 with efficiency and purpose, when 82nd ranked Nikola Bubnic shut down Luca Barlocchi in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
UNLV would quickly counter at Court #3, as Johannes Markel would come back after falling in the first set to win against Torero Thibaut Visy. But not long after, just one court over at #4, the Toreros would go up 2-1, as senior Charl Wolmarans captured the victory over Attila Toth, 6-3, 7-5.
In what proved to be the most heated contest of the evening, as darkness had descended on USD, San Diego's Dean Jackson and 108th ranked Medhi Bouras of UNLV battled it out on Court #1. The first set would go with relative ease to Jackson but Bouras would crawl back in to contention for point ownership, taking the next set 6-4. In the third and final set, after Medhi had forced a break point, Jackson managed to hunker down and pull away with the 7-6 (1) set victory and more importantly, the match win and third overall Torero point.
USD would then clinch at Court #6 with the triumph by Abdullah Hashem over Charlie Alvarado, putting the long and drawn out match to rest.
Finishing off at Court #5, San Diego's Nils Schive would be forced to play with a nagging injury, even having to call an injury timeout half way through the match. Schive eventually surrenderd the final point to Rebel counterpart, Kasper Konyves, 6-3, 6-2.
"I am real proud of our guys today. They dealt with the up and down emotion of having to play after such a long rain delay. It's a tough thing to have to keep up the energy and our guys were able to fight through and come out with a win. It was a long, hard fought weekend and a lot of people chipped in to get this match underway. I appreciate so much the work of Andy Fee and his operations staff. They did a great job and I can't say enough how much their hard work meant to the team and coaching staff, " added head coach Brett Masi, following match's end.
Up next, the Toreros will set out on a three-match road trip, beginning with the Cal Poly Mustangs on Thur., Feb. 25th.
MATCH #6: USD 4, UNLV 2
Sunday, February 21, 2010
USD West Tennis Courts
Singles
1. Dean Jackson (USD) def. #108 Medhi Bouras (UNLV) - 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1)
2. #82 Nikola Bubnic (USD) def. Luca Barlocchi (UNLV) - 6-4, 6-2
3. Johannes Markel (UNLV) def. Thibaut Visy (USD) - 1-6, 6-3, 6-1
4. Charl Wolmarans (USD) def. Attila Toth (UNLV) - 6-3, 7-5
5. Kasper Konyves (UNLV) def. Nils Schive (USD) - 6-3, 6-2
6. Abdullah Hashem (USD) def. Charlie Alvarado (UNLV) - 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5
USD wins match, 4-2.
Records: USD 5-1, UNLV 5-5
