Men's Tennis Loses Heartbreaker After Four Hours
February 20, 1999
SEATTLE, WA - Washington's 18th-ranked men's tennis team lost to UCLA for the second time this week, this time in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships 4-3. Washington's record drops to 6-3 and fifth-ranked UCLA is 9-1.
With the team score tied at 3-3, the match came down to the No. 3 singles match pitting Husky Marius Lunde and Bruin Jason Cook. Lunde took the first-set handily 6-0. The second set went in to a tie-breaker with Cook claiming that 7-5. Cook broke Lunde's serve to knot the score at 4-4 in the third-set. Lunde was then up 6-5 with Cook serving and had four match points but Cook fought back and tied it up at 6-6 to send it in to a third-set tie-breaker.
Down 5-2 in the third-set tie-breaker, Lunde surged back to go ahead 7-6. Cook staved off Lunde's match point to tie the third-set tie-breaker at 7-7. Cook then went on to break Lunde's serve to take an 8-7 advantage. He then served and Lunde's return drifted wide to give the Bruins a dramatic victory.
"I am so proud of our guys," says fifth-year coach Matt Anger. "We didn't start out playing our best but we hung in there and it turned out to be a great battle. Most of those close matches balance out when the score is 4-3 in those situations. Each team has their opportunities. In the end that is what tennis is all about. It was exciting, I became a fan myself. We fought with everything we had."
Senior Eric Drew's (8-1) undefeated run came to end as he lost in No. 1 singles to 14th-ranked Jean-Noel Grinda, 6-2, 6-4. Third-ranked Robert Kendrick rallied to defeat 100th-ranked Zach Fleishman 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. Kendrick staved off two match points in the second set and carried the momentum led by a boisterous crowd in to the third-set.
Washington returns to action tomorrow night at 8 p.m. facing second-ranked Georgia in the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
UCLA 4 Washington 3
Singles
1. Jean-Noel Grinda (UC) d. Eric Drew (UW) 6-2, 6-4 2. Robert Kendrick (UW) d. Zach Fleishman (UC) 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 3. Jason Cook (UC) d. Marius Lunde (UW) 0-6, 7-6, 7-6 4. Brandon Kramer (UC) d. Andy Posavac (UW) 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 5. Jeremy Berman (UW) d. Chris Sands (UC) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 6. Christoph Kull (UW) d. Marcin Rozpedski (UC) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
1. Drew-Kendrick (UW) d. Jong-Min Lee-Grinda (UC) 8-5 2.Rozpedski-Sands (UC) d. Mark Woolley-Posavac (UW) 8-4 3. Cook-Kramer (UC) d. Nick Quatrochi-Kull (UC) 8-4
