USC
Arizona
Men's Tennis Defeats No. 47 Wildcats, 6-1
February 14, 2003 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 14, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- The 15th-ranked USC men's tennis team defeated Pac-10 foe No. 47 Arizona, 6-1, with a dominant performance Friday afternoon at Marks Tennis Stadium. With the victory, the Trojans improve to 5-2 overall, while the Wildcats drop to 5-2.
"I think that this was our best effort of the year," said head coach Peter Smith. "I finally feel like we are turning the corner. We're a little healthier and a little more confident at all positions."
USC won two-of -three doubles matches for the first point, then clinched the victory with two-set singles wins at positions 3, 5 and 1. The Wildcats were held to only 12 points in all three singles matches.
Prakash Amritraj secured the Trojan victory with a 6-4, 6-2 decision at center court over Arizona's No. 102 Whi Kim.
After dropping a match at the No. 6 spot, USC ended the afternoon with wins at courts No. 2 and 4. Junior Ruben Torres was the last off the court as Arizona's Paul Warkentin (the brother for former Woman of Troy Kara Warkentin '00) pushed the match to a third set. Down 4-0 in the tiebreaker, Torres scored five consecutive points to take the lead and eventually defeat Warkentin, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.
USC returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 15, when it hosts No. 43 Arizona State at Noon at Marks Tennis Stadium.
#15 USC 6, #47 Arizona 1
Doubles
(1) Amritraj/Kazarian (USC) def. Warkentin/Hagman (Ariz) - 8-3
(2) Berg/Collins (USC) def. Andrus/Kim (Ariz) - 8-4
(3) Matalonga/O'Grady (Ariz) def. Langre/Torres (USC) - 8-5
USC wins doubles point.
Singles
(1) Prakash Amritraj (USC) def. #102 Whi Kim (Ariz) - 6-4, 6-2
(2) #75 Johan Berg (USC) def. Carl Hagman (Ariz) - 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
(3) Daniel Langre (USC) def. Colin O'Grady (Ariz) - 6-0, 6-3
(4) Ruben Torres (USC) def. Paul Warkentin (Ariz) - 6-4, 4-6, 10-6
(5) Parker Collins (USC) def. Daniel Andrus (Ariz) - 6-3, 6-0
(6) Roger Matalonga (Ariz) def. Jeff Kazarian (USC) - 6-2, 6-4
Players Mentioned
