April 20, 2002
STANFORD, Calif. - Thirteenth-ranked USC (19-5 overall, 5-2 Pac-10) posted a 4-3 road victory over fourth-ranked Stanford University (19-5, 5-2) in Pacific-10 Conference men's tennis action at the Taube Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. It was the final match of the regular season for both teams.
The Trojan victory created a three-way tie for second place in the final Pac-10 standings. UCLA won the conference title with a 6-1 mark, followed by California, Stanford and USC at 5-2. Arizona State and Washington tied for fifth place at 3-4, while Arizona (1-6) and Oregon (0-7) rounded out the standings.
The dual came down to the No. 2 singles match between the Trojans' Ryan Moore (Fullerton, CA) and the Cardinal's Scott Lipsky (Merrick, NY). Moore outlasted the 59th-ranked Lipsky 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 to give the Trojans a 2-1 series edge over the Cardinal this season.
Stanford, which was playing without three-time All-American K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA) for the third consecutive match, took three of the six singles matches from the Trojans. Two of those three wins came in straight sets, as 76th-ranked Ryan Haviland (Aiken, SC) upended 64th-ranked Prakash Amritraj (Encinco, CA) 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 and freshman Sam Warburg (Sacramento, CA) defeated Daniel Langre (Mexico City, Mexico) 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5.
The Cardinal also received a lift from freshman Phil Sheng (Thousand Oaks, CA), who shocked 47th-ranked Nicholas Rainey (Mercer Island, WA) 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 at No. 4.USC opened the match by winning two of three doubles contests to capture the first point. Stanford's lone doubles win came at No. 3 as Joe Kao (Fullerton, CA) and Sheng defeated Amritraj and Langre 9-7.
Stanford begins the post-season on Thursday-Sunday as it travels to the Pacific-10 Conference Individual Championships in Ojai, California. The Cardinal is scheduled to enter eight singles players and four doubles teams into the events. In singles, Stanford will be represented by Haviland, Hippensteel, Kao, Lipsky, David Martin (Tulsa, OK), Chris Meyer (Berkeley, CA), Sheng and Warburg. The four doubles teams will be Haviland and Hippensteel, Kao and Meyer, Lipsky and Martin and Sheng and Warburg.
#13 USC 4, #4 Stanford 3
Doubles (USC wins point)
No. 1 - #7 Ryan Moore/Nicholas Rainey (USC) d. #2 Scott Lipsky/David Martin, 8-6
No. 2 - Teige SullivanRuben Torres (USC) d. Ryan Haviland/Sam Warburg, 8-5
No. 3 - Joe Kao/Phil Sheng (S) d. Prakash Amritraj/Daniel Langre, 9-7
Singles
No. 1 - #29 Andrew Park (USC) d. #37 David Martin, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 - Ryan Moore (USC) d. #59 Scott Lipsky, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6
No. 3 - #76 Ryan Haviland (S) d. #66 Prakash Amritraj, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 - Phil Sheng (S) d. #47 Nicholas Rainey, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3
No. 5 - Sam Warburg (S) d. Daniel Langre, 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 - Ruben Torres (USC) d. Joe Kao, 6-2, 6-2
Records - #13 USC 19-5 overall (5-2 Pacific-10 Conference), #4 Stanford 19-5 (5-2).
Player and team rankings are courtesy of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and Omni Hotels.