University of San Francisco Athletics

BOISE, Idaho – Duplicating last season's win tally, the San Francisco men's tennis team notched its 14th win of the season in a 4-3 decision over Air Force at the Appleton Tennis Center on the campus of Boise State.

The Dons close the regular season with a 14-13 mark, and an 11-7 non-conference record on the year, while Air Force stands at 13-11 after concluding the regular season.

"It all came down to Tim, and he closed it out in the second set by breaking his opponent in a close game!" head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida exclaimed. "We are very happy to get this last match of the regular season and end with 14 wins. The guys had to overcome a lot today, and this will help us as we head into the conference tournament."

The Dons opened by earning the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3. Court two finished first and put the Falcons on top, but the pair of Germain Bahri and Thomas Takemoto evened the match with an 8-5 victory. Then, USF's No. 1 tandem of Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa gutted out an 8-5 win over Andy Jackson and Steven Young to give the Dons an early lead.

For Saraiva and Skajaa, the win marks six in a row, but came at a price. Saraiva, USF's No. 1 singles player, had to sit out of the remainder of the match after sustaining an injury that forced him to the sidelines as a spectator.

Despite losing their top player, USF's squad rose to the challenge of playing a step up in the lineup. First, Skajaa downed Jackson in straight sets to extend the lead to 2-0, but Air Force roared back with wins on court four and five to knot the match. USF's James Tallman bested Jack McCullers, 7-5, 6-2, before Steven Young again evened the slate for the Falcons with a 6-4, 6-4 win from the No. 3 position.

With the balance of the match resting on the shoulders of freshman Timothy Tan, the San Jose native pulled out a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory to give USF its decisive fourth point on Easter Sunday.

USF is expected to begin play in the West Coast Conference Championships Wednesday morning from San Diego, Calif. The bracket culminates with a championship match Saturday at the Barnes Tennis Center.
 

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San Francisco 4, Air Force 3
April 20 | Appleton Tennis Center | Boise, Idaho

Singles | Order of finish: 1, 5, 4, 2, 3, 6*
No. 1 – Nils Skajaa (USF) def. Andy Jackson (AFA); 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 – James Tallman (USF) def. Jack McCullers (AFA); 7-5, 6-2
No. 3 –Steven Young (AFA) def. Thomas Takemoto (USF); 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Alex Grubbs (AFA) def. Germain Bahri (USF); 7-5, 6-1
No. 5 – Lucas Fumagalli (AFA) def. Johan Samuelsson (USF); 6-1, 6-1
No. 6 – Timothy Tan (USF) def. Andrew Parks (AFA); 7-6(3), 6-4

Doubles | Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
No. 1 – Saraiva/Skajaa (USF) def. Jackson/Young (AFA); 8-5
No. 2 – Grubbs/McCullers (AFA) def. Tallman/Tan (USF); 8-3
No. 3 – Bahri/Takemoto (USF) def. Fumagalli/Taylor (AFA); 8-5