Alabama Defeats Oregon at Blue Gray Tennis Classic
3/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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| Billy Mertz |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. ?? Alabama (5-7, 1-3 SEC) advanced at the Blue Gray Tennis Classic Friday night with a 4-1 win over the Oregon Ducks. The Crimson Tide will play Colorado Saturday afternoon at 4:30.
Alabama won the first four singles matches off the court to clinch the win after dropping the doubles point. Freshman Dan Buikema clinched it for the Tide at No. 6 singles with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Oregon's Eric Pickard to give the Tide's its third win this season after losing the doubles point.
"Overall we played a good match, but we didn't do a good job of maintaining any kind of energy and intensity in doubles," Alabama head coach Billy Pate said. "We weren't vocal at all and it cost us the doubles point. But I felt that we regrouped well and played with a lot of energy in singles and it helped us gain momentum. We still have to come out and play with more authority, but overall we played a good match."
Billy Mertz, Sammy Struyf and Mathieu Thibaudeau claimed ??Bama's first three singes wins and helped the Tide grab momentum. All four of the Tide's players finished off their opponents in style, winning in straight sets. Had played been allowed to finish, Javier Bes would have likely claimed a win. Bes was up a set and led 6-5 in the second when played was stopped.
As poorly as Pate felt his team played in doubles to start the match, ??Bama nearly walked away with the early lead. After Mertz and Bes won at No. 2 doubles, Thibaudeau and Jung had match point in their favor at 40-15 and seemingly won the match. However, the chair umpire reversed what would have been match point because the ball grazed Thibaudeau's knee. Oregon's team fought back to even the match and won in the tiebreaker.
Saturday ??Bama will look to pick up its second win of the tournament when it faces Colorado. For complete Blue Gray Tennis Classic results, visit www.bluegraytennis.com.
Alabama 4, Oregon 1
Doubles
Schiller/Spencer (UO) d. Jung/Thibaudeau (UA), 9-8
Mertz/Bes (UA) d. Pino/Myrhed (UO), 8-1
Freitas/Loza (UO) d. Buikema/Felsenthal (UA), 8-6
Singles
Joseph Jung (UA) vs. Markus Schiller (UO), DNF
Javier Bes (UA) vs. Arron Spencer (UO), DNF
Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) d. Myrhed (UO), 7-6, 6-1
Billy Mertz (UA) d. Gustavo Lazo (UO), 6-0, 6-2
Sammy Struyf (UA) d. Fernando Freitas (UO), 6-1, 6-1
Dan Buikema (UA) d. Eric Pickard (UO), 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish (4,5,3,6)
