April 19, 2008

Results

Santa Clara, CA - The No. 59 Saint Mary's men's tennis program will play for a shot at the West Coast Conference title, as they defeated San Diego in the second round, 4-2, and advanced to the championship match for the first time in program history. The Gaels earned the doubles point to take an early advantage, joined by three singles victories to record the win. Saint Mary's will face No. 14 Pepperdine in the conference championships, as they look to upset the defending champions.

Once again the doubles point was a hard fought battle on both sides, as the Gaels edged the Toreros in their two wins, 8-6. Saint Mary's lost the first match at the three position, but came back to win at both one and two. Joel Kusnierz and Lucas Tirelli paired up to defeat San Diego's Thomas Liversage and Chris Coetzee, while Marek Dvorak and Achim Christner topped Dean Jackson and Nils Schive.

In singles action, the first Gael to record a win was freshman Youssef El Bouzkouri, defeating his opponent 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 6 position. Achim Christner was next for Saint Mary's, beating San Diego's Chris Coetzee at the four spot, 7-5, 6-2. With the team scores at 3-2, Saint Mary's needed just one more singles win, as they looked to No. 77 Joel Kusnierz at the No. 1 position. With the pressure of the match on his back, the senior came through, narrowly defeating Thomas Liversage in the first set, 7-6, and coming out strong in the second, 7-3. With the win Kusnierz added to his impressive record, posting a 17-3 mark at the No. 1 position.

"I am very proud of the lads for all of their performances today," said head coach Michael Wayman. "This team is doing something that has never been done at Saint Mary's before."

Kusnierz and the Gaels look to make their mark in Saint Mary's tennis history, as they face Pepperdine in the championship match in Santa Clara, CA on Sunday, April 20 at 3:00 pm.