CALIFORNIA, STANFORD MEN TO SEMIFINALS AT PAC-12 TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Written by: Staff on 28th April 2012

CALIFORNIA, STANFORD MEN TO SEMIFINALS AT PAC-12 TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS |

OJAI, Calif. – A seemingly small amount of rain played a big role in the second day of the Pac-12 Tennis Championships at the 112th Annual Ojai Valley Tournament in Ojai, Calif., as delays sprinkled throughout the day set men’s and women’s play back several hours, leading to the latest match played in tournament history on Thursday night. As women’s singles play got underway, the four-seed CALIFORNIA men and three-seed STANFORD men squeezed out close wins over five-seed WASHINGTON and seven-seed UTAH, respectively, to move on to the men’s semifinals of the conference championships.

The Huskies battled with Cal until the end, but the Golden Bears ended up on top, 4-3. In doubles, Cal’s Carlos Cueto and Ben McLachlan defeated Emmett Egger and Matt Stith, 8-3, on court two, and Cal’s top duo of Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt defeated UW’s pairing of Marton Bots and Kyle McMorrow, 8-5, to clinch the doubles point for the Bears.

Singles competition proved to be much more challenging for the two teams as they traded victories. Washington’s Nicholas Kamisar defeated Cal’s Chase Melton, 6-4, 7-5; Cal’s Riki McLachlan defeated UW’s Viktor Farkas, 7-5, 6-4; Cal’s Konigsfeldt defeated Husky Max Manthou, 7-6 (5), 6-1; Washington’s Egger defeated Cal’s Gregory Bayane, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3; and Washington’s Bots defeated Cal’s Andrews, 7-6 (4), 6-4. It all came down to the top court, where Cal’s Ben McLachlan edged out a win over Washington’s McMorrow, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3, to clinch the victory for the Bears. Cal faces top-seeded UCLA at noon on Friday at Libbey Park.

Upstart Utah took powerhouse Stanford to the brink in the late-night match, which the Cardinal eventually claimed, 4-2. In doubles, Stanford’s No. 1 pair of Ryan Thacher and Denis Lin defeated Utah’s Benito Suriano and Dmytro Mamadov, 8-2, and on the second court, Stanford’s Bradley Klahn and John Morrissey beat Utah’s second pair of Alejandro Mendinilla and Ace Matias in a hard-fought contest, 8-6.

In singles play, Stanford’s Robert Stineman defeated Utah’s Mendinilla (1-6, 6-1, 6-4); Utah’s Slim Hamza did away with Stanford’s Matt Kandath (6-2, 6-3); Utah’s Mamedov upset Stanford’s Thacher (7-5, 6-2); and Stanford’s Klahn defeated Utah’s Suriano (6-2, 6-2). The clincher came from Stanford’s Daniel Ho on court five, where the Southern California native ousted Utah’s Devin Lane in three sets (3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0).

The men competed in the latest matches ever played at The Ojai, wrapping up play at 11:28 p.m. Stanford takes on two-seed USC at 3 p.m. on Friday at Libbey Park.

In Pac-12 women’s action at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club, rain led to the cancellation of the second round of singles in both the championship and invitational draws. Results for the first round of the singles championship draw are as follows:

(4) Cal’s Jana Juricova def. Washington State’s Ksenia Googe (6-0, 6-1)

Stanford’s Stacey Tan def. Arizona’s Kim Stubbe (7-6 (1), 6-4)

(6) USC’s Zoe Scandalis def. Washington’s Samantha Smith (6-4, 6-2)

Utah’s Anastasia Putilina defeated Oregon’s Trudie du Toit (6-1, 6-4)

Arizona’s Natasha Marks def. UCLA’s Pamela Montez (7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3)

(5) Cal’s Zsofia Susanyi def. Colorado’s Wende Janssens (6-4, 6-2)

Oregon’s Patricia Skowronski def. USC’s Kaitlyn Christian (7-6 (3), 6-0)

(3) Stanford’s Mallory Burdette def. Washington’s Andjela Nemcevic (6-3, 6-1)

(1) Stanford’s Nicole Gibbs def. UCLA’s McCall Jones (5-7, 6-3, 6-2)

Cal’s Tayler Davis def. Washington State’s Elisabeth Fournier (6-2, 6-3)

Cal’s Annie Goransson def. Colorado’s Kristina Schleich (6-0, 6-1)

(8) USC’s Sabrina Santamaria def. Utah’s Sarah Pham (6-0, 6-2)

Cal’s Anett Schutting def. Arizona’s Lacey Smyth (6-4, 6-2)

(7) USC’s Danielle Lao def. Colorado’s Julyette Steur (6-2, 7-5)

Stanford’s Ellen Tsay def. Oregon’s Julia Metzger (6-1, 6-2)

(2) UCLA’s Robin Anderson def. Utah’s Callie Craig (6-2, 6-1)

The following is the revised schedule for the women’s Pac-12 Tennis Tournament. All times are estimates:

Friday, April 27:

8 a.m. First round doubles in championship and invitational draws

10 a.m. Second round singles in championship and invitational draws

3 p.m. Quarterfinals in championship and invitational draws in singles

On Saturday, April 28, the revised schedule will require two rounds of doubles to be played prior to the women’s semifinals in both draws. This slate of matches will be played, as planned, at Libbey Park.