The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Stanford
No. 8 Men's Tennis blanks No. 9 Stanford, 4-0
02.12.2010 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 12, 2010
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - No. 8 Texas (5-0) claimed a hard-fought doubles point and tacked on straight-set singles wins from juniors Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico and sophomore Jean Andersen, as the Longhorns opened the ITA National Team Indoor Championship Friday with a 4-0 win over No. 9 Stanford (3-1).
Texas' first win over Stanford since 1993 puts the Longhorns in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship for a third consecutive year. On Saturday, Texas will take on No. 1 USC, who defeated the Horns at the 2009 ITA National Team Indoor Championship and knocked off UT in the 2009 NCAA semifinals on its way to the NCAA title. Texas and USC are set for an 11 a.m. Central first serve Saturday at The University of Virginia's Boar's Head Sports Club. Live scoring will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
Stanford opened the doubles session with a decisive win at the second slot. Leading 2-1, Alex Clayton and Richard Wire broke Texas' Corrie and Damico and never looked back on their way to an 8-3 win. UT's Andersen and freshman Daniel Whitehead engaged in a tight battle with Stanford's Matt Kandath and Lin and ultimately prevailed at third doubles.
At 2-all, Texas broke the Cardinal's service and held for a 4-2 lead. Stanford would pull even and take a 6-5 lead, but Texas held to even the match at six and broke the Cardinal in the next game to take an 8-6 lead. Andersen held serve in the following game to put away the match for Texas, 8-6.
Against Stanford's top-ranked duo of Ryan Thacher and Bradley Klahn at first doubles, Texas' Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala immediately collected the one service break they needed and held serve for a 2-0 lead. The teams each held serve in the ensuing games, though with Texas leading 7-5 and love-40 on Stanford's serve, the Cardinal's Thacher served his way out of the game and kept Stanford alive. Serving 30-15 with a 7-6 lead, Texas' Zavala unleashed a pair of service aces to put away the game and the match and deliver the doubles point to the Longhorns.
Texas came out aggressively in singles play and broke the Cardinal's serve in each of Stanford's initial service games at the six singles positions. At third singles, UT's Damico broke Stanford's Thacher and went on to preserve a 6-4 first-set win. Damico broke Thacher again in the third game of set two and held on to take the second set, 6-4 to give Texas a 2-0 lead.
At fourth singles, Texas' Andersen broke Stanford's Wire immediately at fourth singles on his way to a 3-0 lead. Wire broke Andersen once, but Andersen went on to finish off the first set, 6-3. Andersen broke Wire early again in set two, as he raced out to a 4-1 lead before finishing off the second set, 6-3 to give the Longhorns a 3-0 lead.
As was the case at the other singles positions, Texas' Corrie took advantage of a service break early on in his match against Stanford's 37th-ranked Clayton at second singles and took the first set, 6-2. The Cardinal's inability to hold serve manifested itself halfway through set two. Corrie converted the opportunity and held on to win the second set, 6-4 to give the Longhorns the clinching point. The remaining three matches were suspended, given that the team victor had been determined. Texas' Kutrovsky and Zavala held one-set leads at positions one and five, respectively.
ITA National Team Indoor Championship
Round of 16 (Opening Round)
Boar's Head Sports Club - Charlottesville, Va.
#8 Texas 4, #9 Stanford 0
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 #22 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. #1 Thacher/Klahn (SU) - 8-6
2 Clayton/Wire (SU) def. Corrie/Damico (UT) - 8-2
3 Andersen/Whitehead (UT) def. Kandath/Dennis Lin (SU) - 8-6
Singles - Order of Finish: 3, 4, 2
1 #5 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) vs. #54 Bradley Klahn (SU) - 7-6, 3-4, susp.
2 #9 Ed Corrie (UT) def. #37 Alex Clayton (SU) - 6-2, 6-4
3 Kellen Damico (UT) def. Ryan Thacher (SU) - 6-4, 6-4
4 Jean Andersen (UT) def. Richard Wire (SU) - 6-3, 6-2
5 #38 Josh Zavala (UT) vs. Matt Kandath (SU) - 6-3, 3-3, susp.
6 #104 Vasko Mladenov (UT) vs. Greg Hirshman (SU) - 6-7 (8), 1-4, susp.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On the win
"Stanford has a great program that is accustomed to winning, and it's not easy to beat the Cardinal. We played a hard-fought doubles point. We didn't play well at No. 2, but Stanford did a great job and got that win. The way we fought and finished those matches at Nos. 1 and 3 was just outstanding. We beat the No. 1 team at No. 1 doubles, and our two new guys at third doubles just played great under duress. That was a great start to the match. We were able to win five of six first sets and had a set point at the other position. We attacked them early and were able to get early breaks of serve. Our focus and effort were really, really good today."
On Josh Zavala's final clinching service game at No. 1 doubles
"Josh served an unbelievable game. We had them down triple match point at 5-7, and then Ryan Thacher served them out of the hole, and the pressure went back on us. I think Josh hit all five first serves (in play), and then two aces to finish the match. You can't serve any better than that. Josh, to me, is one of the best doubles players in the country, and he showed why today."
On newcomer Jean Andersen
"Jean Andersen keeps improving. This court surface really fit into his game nicely. He has practiced well here in Virginia, and he really put on a show today. The way he moved and executed with his volleys…he was just outstanding. It was really quite a show he put on there."
On the singles wins from juniors Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico
"Kellen and Ed weren't too pleased after their doubles outing. For those guys to go and get wins over Alex Clayton and Ryan Thacher…that was terrific. Those are two great players, and their top-three is as good as any top-three in the country. For us to get two of the three and be up a set at the other was emblematic of the great effort. The three players we defeated today all beat us last year at the National Indoors. Those were three great efforts."
On playing #1 USC
"This is a championship tournament, and you have to play championship tennis from the first match to the last match if you want to win it. I think we should have a lot of confidence. USC beat us twice last year, but we're excited about the match. We feel like we can compete with anyone."
