Jan. 29, 2012

Cal-LSU Box Score (PDF) | USD-Minnesota Box Score (PDF)

BERKELEY - The 13th-ranked California men's tennis team (2-0) earned a 4-0 shutout of No. 32 LSU (1-1) on Sunday, Jan. 29, in the 2012 ITA Kick-Off Weekend event held at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Golden Bears have advanced into the second round and will face the winner between No. 25 Minnesota (1-0) and No. 27 San Diego (1-0) for one of 16 spots in the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships set for Feb. 17-20, at the Boar's Head Tennis Club in Charlottesville, Va.

"We came out a little bit nervous, today," said head coach Peter Wright. "It was the first real home match of the year after a long break with the rain-out, last week, but I think we got it done on a lot of courts. We had a lot of poise. LSU is a well-coached team. We had really good leadership from our older players, today."

As the day got started, the Tigers took the first bite as their team of Neal Skupski and James Turbervill came up with an 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles against junior Riki McLachlan and senior Tommie Murphy. Though the first two doubles courts had closer matches, the Bears on court two came away with an 8-5 win to even the score as Cal's 27th-ranked team of junior Carlos Cueto and sophomore Ben McLachlan defeated Roger Anderson and Stefan Szacinski.

At the top court, the Bears' fifth-ranked tandem of senior Nick Andrews and junior Christoffer Konigsfeldt delivered Cal's first point of the dual with an 8-4 win against LSU's 28th-ranked team of Olivier Borsos and Chris Simpson.

In singles matches, the Bears won the first set on all six courts, but 90 minutes in, Konigsfeldt's 6-1, 6-4 victory against Szacinski at No. 4 singles created an avalanche of Cal wins. Two minutes later, Cueto completed his 6-4, 6-2 win against Skupski at court two only to be followed by Andrews' 6-4, 6-2 win at the top court over 68th-ranked Borsos to clinch the dual victory.

"It's a good thing when your senior team captain is the guy who is getting it done, on the court," said Wright. "The guys know that Nick [Andrews] is a fearless competitor and he puts it out there, every time he goes out. They respect Nick, a lot, and it means a lot to them that he's the one clinching those points."

Andrews has now clinched the doubles point and the winning singles point in each of Cal's first two dual matches.

"It felt great, today," said Andrews. "We prepared really well, and we knew, as a team, that this one was a little earlier than a normal match; but we woke up early, had a good warm-up, and got it going. It feels really good to get this first home win."

With the match decided, play at courts three, five, and six, was suspended. At No. 3 singles, 42nd-ranked Ben McLachlan won his first set, 6-3, against Simpson, but was down, 4-2, in the second, when play stopped. On court five, freshman Gregory Bayane was down, 5-3, in the second against Tom Knights after he had won, 6-4, in the first set. And on court six, senior Ahmed Ismail was in the third set against Turbervill. Ismail won his first set, 7-5, but surrendered a 6-1 decision to Turbervill in the second.

The Bears will face either the Golden Gophers or the Toreros in a dual set for 1 p.m. PT on Monday, Jan. 30. Last year, Cal hosted San Diego for a regular-season dual on April 5, and defeated the Toreros, 6-1. LSU will take on the loser of the Minnesota-USD dual at 10 a.m., on Monday. Please visit CalBears.com for more information and www.itatennis.com for complete information about the indoor championships.

No. 13 California 4, No. 32 LSU 0
2012 ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Hellman Tennis Complex | Berkeley, Calif.
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012
Doubles
1. No. 5 Andrews/Konigsfeldt (CAL) def. No. 28 Borsos/Simpson (LSU); 8-4
2. No. 27 Cueto/B. McLachlan (CAL) def. Anderson/Szacinski (LSU); 8-5
3. Skupski/Turbervill (LSU) def. R. McLachlan/Murphy (CAL); 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1* (California wins doubles point)
Singles
1. Nick Andrews (CAL) def. No. 68 Olivier Borsos (LSU); 6-4, 6-2
2. Carlos Cueto (CAL) def. Neal Skupski (LSU); 6-4, 6-2
3. No. 42 Ben McLachlan vs. Chris Simpson (LSU); 6-3, 2-4 DNF
4. Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CAL) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU); 6-1, 6-4
5. Gregory Bayane (CAL) vs. Tom Knights (LSU); 6-4, 3-5 DNF
6. Ahmed Ismail (CAL) vs. James Turbervill (LSU); 7-5, 1-6, 2-1 DNF
Order of finish: 4, 2, 1*

No. 27 San Diego 5, No. 25 Minnesota 2
2012 ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Hellman Tennis Complex | Berkeley, Calif.
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012
Doubles
1. Bubnic/Visy (USD) def. No. 55 Arndt/Toledo (MINN); 8-5
2. No. 50 Bonin/Dehn (MINN) vs. Fitzgerald/Pohlmann (USD); DNF
3. Pugliese/Spinosa (USD) def. Frueh/Sicora (MINN); 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 3*, 2 (San Diego wins doubles point)
Singles
1. Phillip Arndt (MINN) def. Nikola Bubnic (USD); 6-4, 6-3
2. No. 92 Patrick Pohlmann (USD) def. No. 118 Leandro Toledo (MINN); 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(1)
3. Rok Bonin (MINN) def. Clarke Spinosa (USD); 6-4, 6-4
4. No. 61 Thibaut Visy (USD) def. Julian Dehn (MINN); 7-5, 3-6, 7-5
5. Ciaran Fitzgerald (USD) def. Michael Sicora (MINN); 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3
6. Victor Pugliese (USD) def. Mathieu Froment (MINN); 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(1)
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 5, 4*, 6