March 9, 2012
Results
HOUSTON, TX - The University of San Diego men's tennis team found themselves in a familiar situation facing No. 11 Texas on Friday evening at The Downtown Club at The Met- battling down to the wire with a top-25 team. Except this time the Toreros finally pulled off the upset with a 4-1 defeat of the Longhorns in Houston.
"I think it's safe to say that this was a program-maker for us," said third-year head coach Brett Masi following the victory. "In regards to beating a team of Texas' stature and for us to come out here the way we did just made me so proud of our guys. We've put ourselves in this spot over and over again and we got it done tonight. We've been here three of four times this season and we just believed in ourselves this week and it paid off."
The past 48 hours have been anything but convenient for both teams as rain initially postponed the match on Thursday evening and then forced the contest to be moved from Austin to Houston. Friday's match started with singles before both teams agreed to forgo the doubles matches.
The 31st-ranked Toreros (6-4) earned singles wins in their top four singles positions. No. 63 Nikola Bubnic defeated No. 50 Soren Hess-Olesen, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1. No. 80 Patrick Pohlmann battled past No. 79 Daniel Whitehead 7-5 in the first set before cruising in the second set, 6-0.
At No. 3, Clarke Spinosa took down Sudanwa Sitaram in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, while No. 102 Thibaut Visy posted a 7-5, 6-3 win over Lloyd Glasspool at No. 4.
The lone USD loss came at No. 5 where the Longhorns' (11-4) Ben Chen defeated Victor Pugliese, 6-3, 6-2. Ciaran Fitzgerald had his match against David Holiner at No. 6 suspended.
USD had narrow losses against top-25 teams earlier this season, most recently a 5-2 home loss to then-No. 11 California on Mar. 1st. The Toreros also got edged by then-No. 24 Texas Tech, 4-3 in Tulsa, Okla. on Feb. 4th. USD's two wins this season against top-25 teams came with a 5-2 win over then-No. 25 Minnesota in the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 29th and a 4-3 defeat at then-No. 23 Tulsa on Feb. 5th.
This was only the second meeting between the Toreros and Longhorns. Texas won the first contest 7-0 back in 1994.
The Toreros return to action Saturday morning when they meet No. 52 Rice at the Galleria Tennis and Athletic Club in Houston for an 11:00 am PT first serve.
