The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Wins Intra Conference USA Matches
2/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 25, 2002
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The UAB men's tennis team defeated East Carolina, 4-0 and Saint Louis, 4-3 to win the Intra Conference USA matches this weekend hosted by Marquette.
In the first match, the Blazers captured an easy win, shutting out East Carolina, 4-0. In doubles play, UAB captured wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots to take the doubles point. UAB's tandem of Tobi Klein (Bad Schoensorm, Germany) and Alex Jung (Waldaschaff, Germany) defeated Marius Nica and Paulo Baumer 8-2, while Andre van der Merwe (Cape Town, South Africa) and Jean-Pierre De Lange (Graff-Reinet, South Africa) defeated ECU's Brad Sullivan and Brian Cochran 8-2.
In singles, the Blazers only had to finish three matches to take four points and the win. At No. 2 singles, Jung defeated Baumer 6-0, 6-3. At No. 4 singles, UAB's Ruben Zrihen (Grenoble, France) defeated Felipe Fonseca 6-1, 6-1. Sanzaurz Zaman (Calcutta, India) defeated ECU's Nica 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 5 singles spot to clinch the match for the Blazers and the berth to the finals.
In the finals, the Blazers faced the Billikens in a down-to-the-wire match.
The Blazers started the match early by taking the doubles point to lead 1-0. Klein and Jung fell to SLU's Ikaika Jobe and Lance Vodicka, 8-6 at the No. 1 spot, but Zrihen and Zaman and van der Merwe and De Lange each won at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.
In singles, the Blazers went down 2-1 after falling at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, but it didn't take long for UAB to take the lead back. Even though it took third set tiebreakers, UAB captured wins at the No. 3, No.4 and No. 5 spots to win the tournament.
Klein defeated SLU's Tom de Larzac 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Zrihen defeated Billiken Thomas Kwong 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. Zaman defeated SLU's Sanjeev Paramanathan 5-7,6-4, 6-0 to finish the match.
UAB is now 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in C-USA.
The Blazers will try to continue their winning ways on Thursday as they host 25th-ranked MTSU in a 2 p.m. match at the Lakeshore Foundation Tennis Facility.
Results
UAB 4, East Carolina 0
Doubles:
#1 Klein/Jung defeated Nica/Baumer (ECU), 8-2
#2 DNF
#3 van der Merwe/De Lange defeated Sullivan/Cochran (ECU), 8-5
Singles:
#1 Andre van der Merwe vs. Charl Meyer (ECU), DNF
#2 Alex Jung defeated Paulo Baumer (ECU), 6-0, 6-3
#3 Tobi Klein vs. Brad Sullivan (ECU), DNF
#4 Ruben Zrihen defeated Felipe Fonseca (ECU), 6-1, 6-1
#5 Sanzaruz Zaman defeated Marius Nica (ECU), 6-1, 6-2
#6 Jean-Pierre De Lang vs. Bryce Snyder (ECU) DNF
UAB 4, Saint Louis 3
Doubles:
#1 Vodicka/Jobe (SLU) defeated Klein/Jung, 8-6
#2 Zrihen/Zaman defeated de Larzac/Kwong (SLU) , 8-6
#3 van der Merwe/De Lange defeated Paramanathan/Curran (SLU), 8-2
Singles:
#1 Ikaika Jobe (SLU) defeated Andre van der Merwe 7-5, 6-2
#2 Lance Vodicka (SLU) defeated Alex Jung 6-2, 6-2
#3 Tobi Klein defeated Tom de Larzac (SLU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
#4 Ruben Zrihen defeated Thomas Kwong (SLU) 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
#5 Sanzaruz Zaman defeated Sanjeev Paramanathan (SLU) 5-7,6-4, 6-0
#6 Taylor Curran (SLU) defeated Jean-Pierre De Lang 6-4, 6-2
