April 16, 1999
STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford men's tennis team improved its record to 17-2 overall as the Cardinal defeated USC, 6-1, today at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Cardinal has now won 42 straight home dual matches, dating back to an April, 1996 loss to UCLA. Stanford will host No. 1 UCLA tomorrow at noon to close out its home regular season dual match schedule.
The Cardinal won the doubles point behind quick victories at number two and three doubles. At number one doubles, the Stanford team of Geoff Abrams and Alex Kim were up 5-2 over USC's Patrick Gottesleben and Roman Kukal. The Trojan pair rallied to tie the match at 5-5 en route to a 9-7 tie-break victory.
In singles, K.J. Hippensteel captured Stanford's next point as Kukal was forced to retire due to illness. At number two singles, Abrams swept through the match with Andrew Park winning 6-2, 6-0. The Cardinal clinched the match at number one singles when senior captain Ryan Wolters, playing in his final home weekend of his career, defeated Gottesleben 6-3, 7-5. In that match, Gottesleben tied the second set at 5-5 before Wolters won two straight games for the victory. The lone point for the Trojans came in the final match of the day at number five. Nick Rainey of USC won the first set before Stanford's Scotty Scott rallied to capture the second. In the third set, it was all Rainey, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Stanford concludes its home season tomorrow with a noon match against No. 1 UCLA at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Stanford 6, USC 1
Singles
1. Ryan Wolters (Stanford) d. Patrick Gottesleben (USC) 6-3, 7-5 2. Geoff Abrams (Stanford) d. Andrew Park (USC) 6-2, 6-0 3. K.J. Hippensteel (Stanford) d. Roman Kukal (USC) 6-3, 1-0 ret. 4. Alex Kim (Stanford) d. Greg Hill (USC) 6-3, 7-6 5. Nick Rainey (USC) d. Scotty Scott (Stanford) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 6. Ali Ansari (Stanford) d. Scott Willinski (USC) 7-6, 6-2Doubles
1. Gottesleben/Kukal (USC) d. Abrams/Kim (Stanford) 9-7 2. Wolters/Hippensteel (Stanford) d. Rainey/Park (USC) 8-5 3. David Hauser/Scott (Stanford) d. Hill/Willinski (USC) 8-4Records: Stanford 17-2; USC 17-4