March 26, 2002
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - In the first outdoor match of the 2001-02 season, the No. 36 Northwestern men's tennis team lost to No. 57 San Diego by a score of 4-3.
The loss drops the 'Cats to 10-4 on the season and improves USD to a 8-1 mark when defending its home court.
The competition was a close affair, coming down to the third set of the final singles match between NU's Jackie Jenkins (College Park, Ga./Westlake) and USD's Ricardo Rizo. Jenkins had taken the first set, 6-4, but lost the tiebreaker in the second and couldn't hang on in the third.
Northwestern had started out a point ahead, winning the doubles point at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. NU's Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Russell Bennett (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) were defeated by the 27th-ranked tandem of Juan Cerda and Jason Pongsrikul, 8-4.
Hanus won his third consecutive match at the No. 1 singles position, defeating Cerda 6-2, 7-6. Freshman Chuck Perrin (Atlanta, Ga./The Walker School) was the only other Wildcat victorious in singles action, defeating Ted Burghardt 6-3, 6-2.
NU continues its California trip Thursday when they play at Fresno State. Match time is set for 1 p.m. CST.
No. 57 San Diego 4, No. 36 Northwestern 3
Doubles
1. No. 27 Juan Cerda/Jason Pongsrikul, USD, def. Thomas Hanus/Russell Bennett, 8-4
2. Jackie Jenkins/Chuck Perrin, NW, def. Stephen Taylor/Ted Burghard, 8-6
3. Ryan Edlefsen/Josh Axler, NW, def. Rob Blair/Martin Linusson, 8-4
Singles
1. Tom Hanus, NW def. Juan Cerda, 6-2, 7-6
2. Rob Blair, USD def. Jamie Sahara, 6-3, 6-1
3. Jason Pongsrikul, USD def. Josh Axler, 6-1, 6-4
4. Ricardo Rizo, USD def. Jackie Jenkins, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
5. Stephen Taylor, USD def. Joost Hol, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
6. Chuck Perrin, NW def. Ted Burghardt, 6-3, 6-2