Toreros Beat San Francisco 6-1

USDTOREROSDOTCOM Victor Pugliese earned the match-clinching singles victory
Victor Pugliese earned the match-clinching singles victory

April 5, 2013

Complete Results

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The No. 42 University of San Diego men's tennis team (13-7, 3-1) knocked off San Francisco (9-6-1, 1-3) 6-1 at home Friday afternoon to secure their third WCC win. The Toreros, who were playing at home for the first time since March 23, lost the doubles point, but rallied to win all the singles matches for the 6-1 victory.

The Toreros won the first doubles match at the No. 3 after Victor Pugliese and Ciaran Fitzgerald captured an 8-3 win. However, the Dons would win at the No. 2 and 1 spots to claim the doubles point.

The Toreros hit the ground running in singles play, quickly winning three matches. Uros Petronijevic was the first to finish, winning 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 4. Clarke Spinosa, who is ranked No. 78 by the ITA, followed that win a 6-0, 6-4 victory at the No. 3. Ciaran Fitzgerald then won 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 6 to put the Toreros on the brink of victory.

The Dons wouldn't go down easily though and forced a third set in the remaining three single matches. Finally, after hours of battling, Victor Pugliese clinched the victory for the Toreros with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win at the No. 4.

Romain Kalaydjian and Thibaut Visy would follow suit. Kayaldjian won 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) at the No. 2 and Visy won 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 at the No. 1.



"Clarke, Uros, and Ciaran came out and kicked some butt right away to put us up 3-1, and then we had the French Armada [Visy, Pugliese, and Kalaydjian] pulling us back, with all three of them winning in three sets," Head Coach Brett Masi said after the match. "Credit to them for getting up early in the last set to take some pressure off, so we felt like we were going to win the whole time."

The Toreros will look for their fourth consecutive WCC win on Sunday when they host No. 56 Santa Clara (13-7, 1-3). It is USTA Campus Kids Day and there will be free prizes and pizza.

"We got to get in the training room, get healthy, and take some time. Santa Clara is going to be rough. It’s going to be a battle to see where we end up in the seeding for the conference tournament," Masi said. "Those guys beat us last year in conference play and then we beat them in the tournament, so it’s an even battle. We always have tough matches against them, and I’m expecting the same thing."

#42 San Diego 6, San Francisco 1

Singles competition

1. Thibaut Visy(USD) def. Thai Tu (USF) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4

2. Romain Kalaydjian(USD) def. Bernardo Saraiva (USF) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7)

3. #78 Clarke Spinosa(USD) def. William Schumacher (USF) 6-0, 6-4

4. Uros Petronijevoc (USD) def. Nils Skajaa (USF) 6-4, 6-0

5. Victor Pugliese(USD) def. Rich Van Hout (USF) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

6. Ciaran Fitzgerald(USD) def. Jonathon Knowlman (USF) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. Bernardo Saraiva/Nils Skajaa (USF) def. Clarke Spinosa/Thibaut Visy (USD) 8-5

2. Thai Tu/Germain Bahri (USF) def. Romain Kalaydjian/Uros Petronijevoc (USD) 8-6

3. Victor Pugliese/Ciaran Fitzgerald (USD) def. Jonathon Knowlman/Richard Bucalem (USF) 8-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,3,6,5,2,1)