University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers' Season Ends in NCAA Second Round
5/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Minnesota fell one match short of reaching the NCAA “Sweet 16” with a 4-0 loss to Southern California on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Gophers, who were looking for their first trip to the Sweet 16 round since 2000, ended their season with a 19-8 overall record. It was Minnesota’s best turnaround season in school history after finishing with a 7-17 mark in 2008. Eighth-seeded Southern California is now 21-5 and advances to face either Stanford or Pepperdine on May 14 in College Station, Texas.
The Trojans pulled out a pair of doubles matches to take the first point of the match as the nation’s fourth-ranked tandem, Robert Farah and Steve Johnson, defeated Minnesota’s Tobias Wernet and Michael Sicora 8-4 at No. 1. USC clinched the point when Matt Kecki and Jaak Poldma edged Sebastian Gallego and Julian Dehn 8-5 at No. 3.
In singles, Daniel Nguyen pushed the Trojans’ lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Phillip Arndt at No. 6. Farah, the nation’s eighth-ranked player, beat 60th-ranked Ishay Hadash 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 to put USC ahead 3-0. The Trojans clinched the match when Poldma held off Gallego 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3.
Minnesota was one game away from picking up a team point when the match was clinched as Dino Bilankov held a 6-4, 5-2 lead over Abdullah Magdas at No. 4.
USC 4, Minnesota 0
Doubles
No. 1 - #4 Robert Farah/Steve Johnson def. #75 Tobias Wernet/Michael Sicora 8-4
No. 2 - #59 Magdas/Nguyen vs. Hadash/Arndt 6-5 Susp.
No. 3 - Kecki/Poldma def. Gallego/Dehn 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Singles
No. 1 - #8 Robert Farah def. #60 Ishay Hadash 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 - #53 Steve Johnson vs. #82 Tobias Wernet 6-3, 5-2 Susp.
No. 3 - #83 Jaak Poldma def. Sebastian Gallego 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 - #106 Abdullah Magdas vs. Dino Bilankov 4-6, 2-5 Susp.
No. 5 - Matt Kecki vs. Julian Dehn 7-5, 2-2 Susp.
No. 6 - Daniel Nguyen def. Phillip Arndt 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 3
Players Mentioned
