April 14, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. --- The Stanford University men's tennis team (19-0 overall, 6-0 Pac-10) moved within one victory of its third consecutive Pacific-10 Conference title with a 5-2 victory over host Arizona State (6-11, 1-5) on Friday afternoon at the Whiteman Tennis Center. The Cardinal leads UCLA by one game in the Pac-10 standings with one match remaining, and can clinch the title outright with a victory over last place Arizona (8-7, 0-5) on Saturday at noon in Tucson. The Cardinal then concludes the regular season with a home match against No. 3 Pepperdine on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., and weekend non-conference match-ups at No. 2 UCLA and No. 19 USC.
Stanford clinched the victory by winning five of the six singles matches, including two in three sets. Sophomore K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy), who is currently ranked No. 13 in the nation, outlasted Matt Klinger (Toronto, Canada/Richview Collegiate) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to improve to 9-3 on the season. At No. 6 singles, freshman Scott Lipsky (Merrick, NY/Bellinore-Kennedy HS) improved to 8-4 in duals with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Pim Van Mele (Tremelo, Belgium/Koninklyk Atheneum Keerberger). The Cardinal also received straight set wins from 12th-ranked Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) at No. 2, freshman David Martin (Key Biscayne, FL/Boca Raton Prep) at No. 4 and 94th-ranked Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) at No. 5.
Arizona State posted three wins on the afternoon, and each one came over an ITA ranked opponent. In doubles, Mitchell Bowen (Sydney, Australia/Knox Grammar School) and Klinger shocked top-ranked Abrams and Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) 8-5 at No. 1 and Andrew Golub (Miami, Florida/Christopher Columbus HS) and Alex Osterrieth (Westerham, Kent, U.K./Great Marlow School) upset 21st-ranked Hippensteel and Martin 9-7. At No. 1 singles, the 82nd-ranked Osterrieth snapped third-ranked Kim's 12-match winning streak with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Just two weeks ago (April 1), Kim defeated Osterrieth 6-1, 6-4 in Stanford's 7-0 win over the Sun Devils on The Farm.
#1 Stanford 5, #45 Arizona State 2
Singles No. 1 - #82 Alex Osterrieth (ASU) d. #3 Alex Kim, 6-4, 6-2 No. 2 - #12 Geoff Abrams (S) d. Ed Carter, 6-3, 6-0 No. 3 - #13 K.J. Hippensteel (S) d. Matt Klinger, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 No. 4 - David Martin (S) d. Andrew Golub, 6-2, 7-5 No. 5 - #94 Scotty Scott (S) d. Ryan Eveloff, 6-0, 6-4 No. 6 - Scott Lipsky (S) d. Pim Van Mele, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles No. 1 - Mitchell Bowen/Matt Klinger (ASU) d. #1 Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim , 8-5 No. 2 - Alex Osterrieth/Andrew Golub (ASU) d. #21 K.J. Hippensteel/David Martin, 9-7 No. 3 - Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (S) d. Ed Carter/Pim Van Mele, 8-1 (Arizona State wins doubles point)
Records - #45 Arizona State 6-11 overall (1-5 Pac-10), #1 Stanford 19-0 (6-0).