Any Given Sunday... Dons claim 5th place at WCC Championships

The University of San Francisco Men's team defeated 4th seeded University of Portland this afternoon on the beautiful campus of USD. The Dons knew exactly what was at stake and came to play. The key to the match was Freshman Rainer Nachbauer(Bregenz, Austria) and Sophomore Torin Ching(Honolulu, Hawaii) doubles play at the #2 spot to clinch the doubles point against the Pilots winning in a 9-8(4)slugfest. University of Portland is best known for their strong doubles play and with the Dons able to clinch the doubles point, it just made everything that much easier as it popped the Pilots spirit going into singles play. Senior Matthew Berry(Capetown,South Africa)as he has been doing all year continued his winning form in his last ever collegiate match. Rainer Nachbauer playing #4 clinched his match to give the Dons a convincing 3-0 lead. After Falko Huettenberger lost in a tough three setter Tommy Tu who had been sick all conference tournament fittingly clinched the dual match for the Dons giving the 6th seeded Dons the right to the 5th place spot in the WCC tournament. The Dons who have learned alot as a team will go down on paper as the 5th best team in the WCC Conference tournament for 2007 but deep down inside they could easily have finished Top 3 again but unfortunately did not get the job done against USD on the first day.Opportunities come and go and hopefully this team and future teams will realize just how important every match in the West Coast Conference Tournament is. Thank you for the great memories 2006-2007 USF Dons as we keep the tradition for past, present and future teams alive. Go Dons!!!


Dons Top Pilots 4-1 to Take Fifth Place in WCC Championships
USF concludes season with win over fourth seed


April 22, 2007


The USF men's tennis team concluded a successful trip to the WCC Championships with a 4-1 win over fourth seed Portland Sunday at the University of San Diego. The Dons finished fifth in the event and concluded their season with a 13-13 mark.

The Dons broke ahead early, taking the doubles point as Torin Ching and Rainer Nachbauer won in a tiebreaker at two and Asaf Cohen and Mitch Del Rosario won 8-5 at the three slot.

Matthew Berry continued his red shot play winning 6-3, 6-1 at number one his 17th victory in the last 19 contests over Filip Zivkovic 6-3, 6-1. Rainier Nachbauer defeated Colby Jager 6-3, 6-1 at four and after Falko Huettenberger dropped a tough three set decision to Alex Strom, the Dons clinched fifth place with Thong Tu's three set (7-6, 2-6, 6-3) victory over Joel Kinkaid.


Consolation Final (5th place)
No. 6 San Francisco 4, No. 4 Portland 1
Doubles:
#1 Jager/Zivkovic (POR) def. Berry/Huettenberger (USF) 8-6
#2 Ching/Nachbauer (USF) def. Strom/Yemm (POR) 9-8 (7-4)
#3 Cohen/Rosario (USF) def. Kincaid/Schleining (POR) 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles:
#1 â013 Matthew Berry (USF) def. Filip Zivkovic (POR) 6-3, 6-1
#2 â013 Alex Strom (POR) def. Falko Huettenberger (USF) 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3
#3 â013 Thong Tu (USF) def. Joel Kincaid (POR) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3
#4 â013 Ranier Nachbauer (USF) def. Colby Jager (POR) 6-3, 6-1
#5 â013 Charlie Yemm (POR) vs. Asaf Cohen (USF) Did Not Finish
#6 â013 Scott Kennel (POR) vs. Mitch Del Rosario (USF) Did Not Finish
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 2, 3