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Patterson's Win Gives Men's Tennis 4-3 Victory Over San Diego
April 2, 2003
LOS ANGELES - Thanks to Scott Patterson's victory at No. 6 singles, the No. 22 USC men's tennis team walked away with a narrow 4-3 win over No. 35 San Diego on Wednesday afternoon at Marks Tennis Stadium. With the win, the Trojans improve to 12-6 overall, while the Toreros drop to 11-6. USC did not have much trouble getting through doubles play, as it swept all three matches for the first point of the afternoon. But San Diego posed a much bigger threat in singles and made the Trojans earn every point. Daniel Langre was the first off the court for the Trojans as he easily defeated Nic Beuque, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 3 to put USC ahead 2-0. Their lead disappeared as San Diego earned victories in the following two matches at courts five and one to knot the score at 2-2. The Toreros gained a 3-2 advantage when Rob Blair posted a 6-1, 6-4 win over Ruben Torres at the No. 4 spot. Meanwhile, on court two, USC's Johan Berg put forth a come-from-behind effort as he pushed Jason Pongsrikul to a third set after dropping the first. Berg eventually beat Pongsrikul, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, leaving the match to be decided by Patterson at court six. Patterson, a freshman walk-on who has played in and out of the lineup all season, had early control of his match, winning the first set 6-1. Despite the efforts of USD's Michael Meschede, who battled from the start of the second set, Patterson clinched the USC victory by with a 6-1, 6-4 win.
"This was a real gutty performance for one of our players who has not even played that much," said USC head coach Peter Smith. "This is Scott's first year and he had never been in that situation before. For him to come through it for us was just great."
The Trojans return to action at the end of the week when they travel to the Bay Area to face No. 4 California on Friday, April 4, and No. 7 Stanford on Saturday, April 5. #22 USC 4, #35 San Diego 3
Doubles
Singles
- GO SC - |
