MORAGA, Calif. – The University of San Francisco men's tennis team gained ground in the WCC race Wednesday afternoon, picking up a road victory over Bay Area rival Saint Mary's, 4-3, at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex.
With the win, the Dons moved to 10-6-1 and 2-3 in the WCC, while the Gaels fell to 9-10 and 3-2 in WCC action.
The Dons once again took the doubles point with wins by Skajaa/Saraiva and Knowlman/Bucalem, making it 14 consecutive matches and 16 out of 17 that they have done so.
Sophomore
Bernardo Saraiva took over the No. 1 singles position and debuted with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over No. 100 Jesse Kiuru of Saint Mary's.
After evening the match at 2-2, USF and SMC split the next two singles matches, rendering the No. 3 pairing of
Nils Skajaa versus Tuomas Manner the deciding match. Manner took the opening set before Skajaa rallied for the three-set victory to give the Dons their 10
th win of the season.
"This is what college tennis rivalry is all about,” said USF coach
Peter Bartlett. “This was a hard contested match today that came down to the very end.”
“
Nils Skajaa did a great job keep his composure to close his match out and clinch the match for our team. We had a lot of players step up today in pressure situations and we did a good job managing and ultimately coming through."
The Dons travel to Santa Clara for their final road match of the season when they visit the Broncos on Saturday, April 13 at 11 a.m.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
DOUBLES:
1. Nils Skajaa /
Bernardo Saraiva (USF) def. Jesse Kiuru / Joakim Norstrom (SMC) 9-7
2. Tuomas Manner / Samuel Bloore (SMC) def.
Thai Tu /
Germain Bahri (USF) 8-4
3. Jonathon Knowlman /
Richard Bucalem (USF) def. Seif El Sherbini / Thomas Hunt (SMC) 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES:
1. Bernardo Saraiva (USF) def. No. 100 Jesse Kiuru (SMC) 7-6, 6-2
2. Joakim Norstrom (SMC) def.
Thai Tu (USF) 6-1, 6-3
3. Nils Skajaa (USF) def. Tuomas Manner (SMC) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
4. Seif El Sherbini (SMC) def.
William Schumacher (USF) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
5. Sam Bloore (SMC) def.
Rich Van Hout (USF) 6-3, 7-5
6. Germain Bahri (USF) def. Thomas Hunt (SMC) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 5, 1, 6, 4, 3
FINAL SCORE: USF 4, SMC 3
