University of Washington
Arizona
No. 20 Huskies Win Pac-10 Opener
March 25, 2011 | Men's Tennis
March 25, 2011
SEATTLE - Playing its Pac-10 opener under mostly blue skies at the Bill Quillian Stadium courts, the 20th-ranked Husky men's tennis team outplayed the Arizona Wildcats to the tune of a 6-1 win in just over three hours. Arizona dug its claws in and made for a number of difficult second sets, but the Huskies (14-4, 1-0 Pac-10) stepped up late to close the door. All five UW singles wins came in straight sets as the Huskies earned a seventh consecutive win.
"I thought both the doubles and the singles I thought we came out pretty well, but then started looking around a little bit and slowed down," said head coach Matt Anger. "Their guys hung in there, so some of the second sets were tough, maybe even tougher than the scoreboard might indicate. We need to make sure we've got our foot down on the pedal the whole time."
After taking a 1-0 lead with a doubles point sweep, the Huskies got a quick second point from sophomore Marton Bots, who was the one Husky to pull away in his second set, as he beat Frank Chen, 6-3, 6-0, at sixth singles. Senior Tobi Obenaus then won the final three games of his match to post the next point, as he took down Mairo Urquidi, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5.
The clinching point took some time to find, as both Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Kyle McMorrow were battling to close out their matches in straight sets. McMorrow, ranked 52nd, was up 6-3, 6-5 and serving for the match against Jason Zafiros at second singles, but the Wildcat broke back to force a tiebreak. McMorrow had to save a set point in the breaker but unleashed a forehand winner on match point to close out the tiebreak, 8-6, and the match.
Nedunchezhiyan then served out his No. 1 singles match against 120th-ranked Andres Carrasco. The Husky senior had a long final service game and saved a few break points before sewing up a 6-3, 6-4 victory. The Chennai, India native moved past former All-American Eric Drew for fifth on the UW combined singles and doubles wins list today with 159 for his career.
A moment later, senior Martin Kildahl notched a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Andre Vidaller to make it 6-0 Huskies. On court four, freshman Daniel Schmidt was battling UA senior Geoff Embry. The Wildcat took the first set, 6-4, but Schmidt answered with a 6-4 second set win. Playing a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of a full third set, the two were at 7-7 when the rain finally started to fall. The two went to the Nordstrom Tennis Center to finish, and after a warm-up period, Embry took the final three points in a row to salvage a win for Arizona.
Washington will be back in action tomorrow with a major challenge on its hands as No. 7 Pepperdine visits for a 2 p.m. dual. It will be the third Top-10 team UW has faced at home, and the Huskies have a 1-1 record so far.
Washington Men's Tennis
March 25, 2011 - Seattle, Wash.
Quillian Stadium
No. 20 Washington 6, No. 53 Arizona 1
Doubles
1) (29) McMorrow/Nedunchezhiyan (UW) def. Vidaller/Zafiros (Ariz), 8-2
2) (68) Kildahl/Obenaus (UW) def. Chen/Embry (Ariz), 8-5
3) Bots/Schmidt (UW) def. Carrasco/Urquidi (Ariz), 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1) (86) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (UW) def. (120) Andres Carrasco (Ariz), 6-3, 6-4
2) (52) Kyle McMorrow (UW) def. Jason Zafiros (Ariz), 6-3, 7-6 (6)
3) (71) Martin Kildahl (UW) def. Andre Vidaller (Ariz), 6-4, 7-5
4) Geoff Embry (Ariz) def. Daniel Schmidt (UW), 6-4, 4-6, (10-7)
5) Tobi Obenaus (UW) def. Mario Urquidi (Ariz), 6-3, 6-4
6) Marton Bots (UW) def. Frank Chen (Ariz), 6-3, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4
Players Mentioned
