No. 12 Cal Upends Utah in Pac-12 Opener

No. 12 Cal Upends Utah in Pac-12 Opener

March 30, 2012

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SALT LAKE CITY - The 12th-ranked California men's tennis team (8-7, 1-0 Pac-12) opened its inaugural Pac-12 Conference season with a dominating 6-1 victory over league newcomer Utah (11-6, 0-1) at the Liberty Park Tennis Center on Friday, March 30. The Golden Bears snapped a two-match losing streak in their first action since a March 11 dual at fifth-ranked Duke in Durham, N.C.

76th-ranked senior Nick Andrews provided Cal with the clinching point as he took out Benito Suriano at the top singles court in the three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

The Bears secured the doubles point for the 10th time this season with a sweep of all three courts. In the middle, Cal's 33rd-ranked duo of junior Carlos Cueto and sophomore Ben McLachlan won its team-leading 20th match of the year on an 8-5 victory against Ace Matias and Alejandro Medinilla. At the top court, the Bears' third-ranked team of Andrews and junior Christoffer Konigsfeldt won its fourth straight match on an 8-3 decision over Dmytro Mamedov and Suriano to lock up the first point of the dual.

At No. 3 doubles, freshmen Gregory Bayane and Andrew Scholnick took out Slim Hamza and Devin Lane, 8-5, to complete the Cal sweep for the doubles point.

Cal wasted no time moving ahead to a 2-0 lead in the dual as junior Riki McLachlan got a 6-3, 6-2 win against Medinilla down at No. 6 singles. One court over, Bayane completed his straight-set win over Lane with a 6-2 win in the second set. Bayane and Lane fought, tooth and nail, for the first set, but Bayane prevailed with a 7-5 decision in the tiebreaker.

At the top court, Andrews earned his 12th singles victory this season in a three-setter against Suriano to clinch the Cal victory. Utah got its only point of the dual from court three where Hamza came back after dropping his first set to upset 39th-ranked Cueto in three, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Cal added a fifth point from court two when 37th-ranked Ben McLachlan outlasted Mamedov, 10-6, in the third-set match tiebreaker. Mamedov won the first set, 10-8, in a tiebreaker, but McLachlan had the upper hand in the second to win, 6-3.

The final point of the day came from court four where Konigsfeldt overcame a 7-5 loss to Rafael Davidian in the first set to win, 6-4, 7-5, in the second and third sets.

The Bears will get a day off in the Rocky Mountains before they face Arizona (5-11, 0-1 Pac-12) in a 10 a.m. PT dual at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Tucson, Ariz., on Sunday, April 1. The Wildcats fell, 5-2, to eighth-ranked Stanford in their Pac-12 opener.

No. 12 California 6, Utah 1
Liberty Park Tennis Center | Salt Lake City, Utah
Friday, March 30, 2012 - 1:30 p.m. MT
Records: Utah (11-6, 0-1 Pac-12), California (8-7, 1-0 Pac-12)
Doubles
1. No. 3 Andrews/Konigsfeldt (CAL) def. Mamedov/Suriano (UTAH); 8-3
2. No. 33 Cueto/B. McLachlan (CAL) def. Matias/Medinilla (UTAH); 8-5
3. Bayane/Scholnick (CAL) def. Hamza/Lane (UTAH); 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 1*, 3 (California wins doubles point)
Singles
1. No. 76 Nick Andrews (CAL) def. Benito Suriano (UTAH); 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
2. No. 37 Ben McLachlan (CAL) def. Dmytro Mamedov (UTAH); 6-7(8), 6-3, 1-0(6)
3. Slim Hamza (UTAH) def. No. 39 Carlos Cueto (CAL); 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
4. Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CAL) def. Rafael Davidian (UTAH); 5-7, 6-4, 7-5
5. Gregory Bayane (CAL) def. Devin Lane (UTAH); 7-6(5), 6-2
6. Riki McLachlan (CAL) def. Alejandro Medinilla (UTAH); 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 5, 1*, 3, 2, 4

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