Feb. 4, 2011
LOS ANGELES, Calif.- The University of San Diego men's tennis team fell to the second-ranked University of Southern California Trojans, 6-1, in dual match action from USC's Marks Stadium on Friday afternoon. The Toreros (3-2) tallied two wins on the day, one in singles and one in doubles, but in the end the Trojans (6-0) proved why they are one of the nation's top teams this season.
The day started off on a positive note for USD, as its seventh-ranked doubles tandem of Dean Jackson and Patrick Pohlmann opened doubles play by defeating USC's Steve Johnson and Ray Sarmiento 8-3. It was the 12th win of the year for Jackson and Pohlmann as they improved to 12-2 overall.
Luck changed for the No. 47 Toreros after that, however, as USD's No. 3 doubles pair of Clarke Spinosa and Thibaut Visy dropped their match, 8-3, to Jaak Poldma and J.T. Sundling, who are ranked 51st. The Trojans then clinched the doubles point with a competitive match in which Emilio Gomez and Daniel Nguyen came out on the winning end of an 8-6 battle at the No. 2 spot over Nikola Bubnic and Nils Schive.
With the doubles point wrapped up, USC went to work in singles, winning the first three matches as sixth-ranked Johnson defeated No. 31 Jackson 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1, No. 84 Poldma topped Bubnic by a score of 7-5, 6-1, and No. 91 Sarmiento topped his freshman counterpart Spinosa 6-2, 7-5 to clinch the win for the Trojans. Both Sarmiento and Spinosa were riding five-match singles winning streaks coming into the match, but Spinosa dropped to 11-4 with the loss.
Despite the match going to USC, Visy pulled out the Toreros' lone singles victory of the day by beating Gomez in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. It was Visy's 15th singles win of the year, which ties him with Jackson for the team lead.
USC came out on top of the final two singles matches as No. 18 Nguyen squeaked by Pohlmann at No. 3 to earn a hardfought 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (13-11) victory, and No. 84 Lucassen finished off Torero freshman Emilio Mora 6-4, 6-4.
The Toreros continue their weekend road trip with a 1:00 p.m. match on Saturday, Feb. 5th at UC Santa Barbara.
#2 USC vs. #47 San Diego
Feb. 4, 2011 -- Marks Stadium
DOUBLES
(1) #7 Jackson/Pohlmann (USD) def. Johnson/Sarmiento (USC) -- 8-3
(2) Gomez/Nguyen (USC) def. Bubnic/Schive (USD) -- 8-6
(3) #51 Poldma/Sundling (USC) def. Spinosa/Visy (USD) -- 8-3
USC wins doubles point.
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
SINGLES
(1) #6 Steve Johnson (USC) def. #31 Dean Jackson (USD) -- 6-3, 6-2
(2) #84 Jaak Poldma (USC) def. Nikola Bubnic (USD) -- 7-5, 6-1
(3) #18 Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. Patrick Pohlmann (USD) -- 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (13-11)
(4) #91 Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Clarke Spinosa (USD) -- 6-2, 7-5*
(5) Thibaut Visy (USD) def. Emilio Gomez (USC) -- 6-4, 6-3
(6) #84 Peter Lucassen (USC) def. Emilio Mora (USD) -- 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4*, 5, 3, 6
