Men's Tennis Defeats Arizona, 6-1
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
March 12, 1999
LOS ANGELES - Behind strong doubles play and winning five of six singles matches, the No. 13 USC men's tennis team defeated No. 52 Arizona, 6-1, in a non-conference match on Friday afternoon at Marks Tennis Stadium and, in the process, earned the program's 999th overall victory.
With the win, the Trojans improved to 10-2 overall and will go for win No. 1000 on Saturday afternoon (March 13) against Arizona State -- who is tied at No. 13 in the rankings with USC -- at Marks Tennis Stadium at Noon. With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 3-6 overall on the season.
Behind the strong doubles play of junior Patrick Gottesleben and sophomore Roman Kukal at the No. 1 doubles position, USC defeated Arizona's Jean-Noel LaCoste and Pascal Salasca, 9-8 (7-5), in a back and forth match that saw the Trojans fall behind 3-6, but fight back and eventually force a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreak set, the Wildcats would score the first four points to take an early 4-0 lead. But USC would rally to tie the set at 4-4, and go on to win three of the next four points to win the match and clinch the doubles point for a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, USC extended its lead to 2-0 as Gottesleben made quick work of Arizona's Adrian Novo, 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 1 singles position. The Wildcats would notch their first point of the afternoon at the No. 4 singles position as Michel Stopa defeated the Trojans' Gregg Hill in straight sets, 6- 3, 6-2.
From there on out, it was all USC, as Kukal gave the Trojans a 3-1 lead with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) straight set win over Arizona's Salasca and Trojan freshman Nicholas Rainey clinched the victory for USC with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory over the Wildcats' Caleb Marquardt.
Trojan freshman Andrew Park defeated LaCoste in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 7- 5, while senior Scott Willinski completed the scoring with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) straight set win over Arizona's Alex Brown.
The complete results of the match follow:
Singles
1. Patrick Gottesleben (USC) def. Adrian Novo (Arizona), 6-0, 6-3
2. Andrew Park (USC) def. Jean-Noel LaCoste (Arizona), 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
3. Roman Kukal (USC) def. Pascal Salasca (Arizona), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
4. Michel Stopa (Arizona) def. Gregg Hill (USC), 6-3, 6-2
5. Nicholas Rainey (USC) def. Caleb Marquardt (Arizona), 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
6. Scott Willinski (USC) def. Alex Brown (Arizona), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles (worth 1 point)
1. Gottesleben/Kukal (USC) def. LaCoste/Salasca (Arizona), 9-8 (7-5)
2. Rainey/Willinski (USC) def. Novo/Brian Jackson (Arizona), 8-6
3. Stopa/Brown (Arizona) def. Hill/Park (USC), 8-6
