The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
USC
No. 7 Men's Tennis overpowers No. 6 USC, 4-1
02.17.2008 | Men's Tennis
SEATTLE -- No. 7 Texas (8-1) claimed a hard-fought doubles point and collected singles wins from Josh Zavala, Luis Diaz Barriga and Kellen Damico on its way to a 4-1 victory over No. 6 USC Sunday afternoon in the consolation round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. With wins in the 16-team event over No. 10 Alabama and the sixth-ranked Trojans, Texas finishes the event tied for fifth place.
Texas' Luis Diaz Barriga and Miguel Reyes Varela broke USC's Jack Levis and Gary Sacks right away at second doubles and assumed a 5-0 lead before winning by an 8-2 count. Sophomores Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala picked up the one service break they needed on USC's Andrew Plotrowski and Jaak Poldma at third doubles and raced to an 8-3 win to clinch the doubles point for Texas.
Zavala made short work of USC's Abdullah Magdas at fifth singles, winning 6-2, 6-1 to push the Longhorns' lead to 2-0. Diaz Barriga outlasted Sacks in the first set, 7-5, at fourth singles, before putting Sacks away in the second set, 6-2, extending the Texas lead to 3-0.
The Trojans' Jason McNaughton sliced the Longhorns' lead to 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 win at sixth singles over Milan Mihailovic, but that proved to be the closest USC would get. Damico rallied from a one-set deficit at second singles to take the second set off of Kaes Van't Hof, 6-1. Damico broke Van't Hof early on in the final set and held serve throughout the set, winning 6-2 to clinch the Texas victory.
"This was a great win over a legitimate top-five level team in USC," said UT coach Michael Center. "We overcame some adversity early on, but we became more aggressive and showed a lot of heart and determination to get the win."
The Longhorns resume competition on Sunday, Feb. 24 at Rice.
ITA National Team Indoor Championship - Consolation Round
No. 7 Texas 4, No. 6 USC 1
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3
1. Corrie/Damico (UT) vs. Farah/Van't Hof (USC) - 6-6, susp.
2. Diaz Barriga/Reyes Varela (UT) def. Levis/Sacks (USC) - 8-2
3. Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Plotrowski/Poldma (USC) - 8-3
Singles - Order of Finish: 5, 4, 6, 2
1. Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) vs. Robert Farah (USC) - 1-6, 6-4, 3-2, susp.
2. Kellen Damico (UT) def. Kaes Van't Hof (USC) - 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
3. Ed Corrie (UT) vs. Jaak Poldma (USC) - 7-5, 2-6,
4. Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Gary Sacks (USC) - 7-5, 6-2
5. Josh Zavala (UT) def. Abdullah Magdas (USC) - 6-2, 6-1
6. Jason McNaughton (USC) def. Milan Mihailovic (UT) - 6-4, 6-2
