University of Washington
California
Determined Huskies Upset No. 10 Bears, 4-3
April 09, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 9, 2011
SEATTLE - A point from defeat on two occasions, Kyle McMorrow just continued to outwork and outhustle his physically spent opponent, and in the end the Husky sophomore prevailed in a third set tiebreak to give the 22nd-ranked UW men's tennis team a 4-3 upset win over 10th-ranked California. The match went four and a half hours at the Bill Quillian Stadium but was worth every minute as Washington (15-8, 2-3 Pac-10) was able to snap a four-match losing skid and beat its second Top-10 team of the season. Sweetening the day even moreso was the dozen or more UW alumni in town this weekend that came to loudly cheer on the Dawgs.
The Huskies faced a long road after a bitter doubles point loss that came down to a tiebreaker on the No. 2 court, but UW fought back with four of the six first sets in singles. Senior Tobi Obenaus and sophomore Marton Bots would win in straight sets in the bottom third of the lineup, then senior Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan scored the biggest win of his season with a three-setter over 17th-ranked Pedro Zerbini.
"There are a lot of emotions right now," said Head Coach Matt Anger. "Jeevan, the guy he played is very good, and has beaten us a couple times, but Jeevan played him close last year and he hung tough and was able to play his game. Then Kyle was just tough as nails. He ran down so many shots that I thought were winners. There are ways you could say they played just as well or better than us, but in the end we were the last man standing."
That left it at 3-3 with McMorrow facing 65th-ranked Carlos Cueto. In the first set, Cueto's massive forehand produced so many winners that Coach Anger wondered afterwards if there was some sort of limit. Cueto took the first set, 6-2. In the second set, McMorrow went down an early break, but then rallied to go up a break of his own, only to have Cueto come back and force a tiebreak. The 68th-ranked Husky hung on with a 7-5 win to force a third set.
The third set careened into a tiebreaker as well with all the other matches decided. Cueto was battling leg cramps at this point and laboring in his movement, but the forehand was still working well. He earned two straight match points with a 6-4 lead in the tiebreak, but McMorrow saved one with a big serve and forehand combo, then Cueto yanked a forehand wide to get to 6-all. McMorrow won the next point to get his own match point chance, and then fired an ace to set off the celebration. It was a big weekend for McMorrow, who on Friday upset 32nd-ranked Ryan Thacher of Stanford.
The team score went back and forth throughout the day, with UW and Cal alternating singles wins. Bots finished first, completing a weekend sweep of the Bay Area schools with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Bozhidar Katsarov at sixth singles. Cal then got a 6-1, 6-2 win from Chris Konigsfeldt at No. 4 over Daniel Schmidt. Nedunchezhiyan then ran away in his third set to upend 17th-ranked Zerbini, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1, handing Cal's No. 1 just his fifth loss of the year.
At third singles, senior Martin Kildahl won the first set over Nick Andrews but Andrews clawed right back for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win that made it 3-2 in Cal's favor. Shortly thereafter, senior Tobi Obenaus got his second win of the weekend, grinding out a 7-5, 7-5 win over Ben McLachlan to even things up. Obenaus' win came with his parents cheering him on, as they flew in from his native Austria for the weekend's matches.
In doubles, McMorrow and Nedunchezhiyan were very sharp in earning an 8-3 win over the 22nd-ranked team of Andrews and Konigsfeldt. That was the 83rd career doubles victory for Nedunchezhiyan, tying him for the school record alongside Alex Slovic and Daniel Chu.
But Cal got the win at third doubles and then Obenaus and Kildahl went all the way to a tiebreak at No. 2 against Zerbini and Jonathan Dahan. The Husky pair won the first point, but then it was all Cal, as they won seven straight points to win the tiebreak and clinch the point.
Washington will wrap up its home schedule next weekend when it hosts Portland on Saturday, April 16, which will include Senior Day festivities for five Huskies.
Washington Men's Tennis
April 9, 2011 - Seattle, Wash.
Bill Quillian Stadium
No. 22 Washington 4; No. 10 California 3
Doubles
1) (31) McMorrow/Nedunchezhiyan (UW) def. (22) Andrews/Konigsfeldt (Cal), 8-3
2) Zerbini/Dahan (Cal) def. (69) Kildahl/Obenaus (UW), 9-8 (1)
3) McLachlan/McLachlan (Cal) def. Bots/Schmidt (UW), 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1) (74) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (UW) def. (17) Pedro Zerbini (Cal), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
2) (68) Kyle McMorrow (UW) def. (65) Carlos Cueto (Cal), 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8)
3) (96) Nick Andrews (Cal) def. (85) Martin Kildahl (UW), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
4) Christoffer Konigsfeldt (Cal) def. Daniel Schmidt (UW), 6-1, 6-2
5) Tobi Obenaus (UW) def. Ben McLachlan (Cal), 7-5, 7-5
6) Marton Bots (UW) def. Bozhidar Katsarov (Cal), 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 4, 1, 3, 5, 2
Players Mentioned
