May 12, 2002
STANFORD, Calif. - The University of Washington upset fifth-seeded Stanford University 4-3 in the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Team Championships on Sunday afternoon at the Taube Tennis Center.
The Huskies (19-6) will now take on Auburn in the NCAA Round of 16 on Saturday, May 25 at Texas A&M University.
"Last year we reached the round of 16 for the first time in school history, and this year is special because we have three freshmen in the starting lineup," Washington head coach Matt Anger said. "Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get back to the round of 16. We regrouped in March, and played very well in April. We knew we could play well here this weekend."
Stanford, which was playing without three-time All-American K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA) because of a back injury, finished its season at 20-6.
"We got beat by a really good team," Stanford head coach Dick Gould said. "Washington played great in doubles, and we knew that point would be huge coming into the match. We had our chances today, and just didn't pull it out."
The Huskies, who are ranked 35th in the nation and seeded No. 33-48 in the tournament, rallied from a 3-1 deficit to pull off the upset.
Washington cut the margin to one at No. 2 singles, as Alex Vlaski (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) prevailed 6-4 in the first set over Scott Lipsky (Merrick, NY), and then clinched the match by winning a second set tiebreaker 7-4. The Huskies later pulled even as Peter Scharler (Salzburg, Austria) came back to defeat Joe Kao (Fullerton, CA) 5-7, 6-0, 6-4. Kao and Scharler were tied at 4-4 in the third set, before Scharler broke serve to go up a game and then held serve to win the match.
The dual then came down to the No.1 singles match between the Huskies' Matt Hanlin (Birmingham, England) and the Cardinal's David Martin (Tulsa, OK). Martin won the first set 7-5, and had a chance to clinch the dual victory in a second set tiebreaker. Hanlin won the first three points of the tiebreaker, and held off a Martin rally to prevail 7-5. In the third set, Hanlin won the first four games en route to a 6-1 win that clinched the team victory.
Washington opened the match by taking the doubles point, as the No. 3 team of Christoph Palmanshofer (St. Georgen, Austria) and Scharler posted an 8-5 win to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinal, however, rallied with three impressive straight set singles victories. Ryan Haviland (Aiken, SC), Sam Warburg (Sacramento, CA) and Phil Sheng (Thousand Oaks, CA) all recorded convincing wins for a 3-1 Stanford advantage.
#35 Washington 4, #6 Stanford 3
Doubles (Washington wins point)
No. 1 - Ari Strasberg/Alex Vlaski (W) d. #2 Scott Lipsky/David Martin, 8-6
No. 2 - Ryan Haviland/Sam Warburg (S) d. Matt Hanlin/Dillon Ruby, 8-6
No. 3 - Christoph Palmanshofer/Peter Scharler (W) d. Joe Kao/Phil Sheng, 8-5
Order of finish: #1, #2, #3
Singles
No. 1 - #49 Matt Hanlin (W) d. #28 David Martin, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1
No. 2 - #29 Alex Vlaski (W) d. #51 Scott Lipsky, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 - #49 Ryan Haviland (S) d. Ari Strasberg, 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 - Phil Sheng (S) d. Christoph Palmanshofer, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 - Sam Warburg (S) d. Dillon Ruby, 6-3, 6-2
No. 6 - Peter Scharler (W) d. Joe Kao, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4
Order of finish: #5, #4, #3, #2, #6, #1
Records - #35 Washington 19-6, #6 Stanford 20-6.
Player and team rankings are courtesy of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and Omni Hotels.