Trojans start regular season on high note

USC sweeps UC Santa Barbara; takes second place in the NCTC tourney

By JEREMY BRYANT
Staff Writer

Domination is the only word that can be used to describe the USC men's tennis team's performance Tuesday against UC Santa Barbara, when the Trojans began the regular season with a 7-0 sweep of the Gauchos at Marks Tennis Stadium.

The highlight of the match was when USC's Patrick Gottesleben battled through an illness to pull off a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Santa Barbara senior Cory Guy. Gottesleben was the first Trojan to defeat Guy in his four-year career at Santa Barbara.

The Trojan freshmen - Andrew Park, Ryan Moore and Nicholas Rainey - continued their improvement with overpowering straight-set victories.

USC sophomore Roman Kukal defeated Simon Shen with ease, 6-2, 6-3, and Gregg Hill outlasted Marcio Pepe for the victory, 7-5, 6-2.

In doubles play, Gottesleben and Kukal dropped the first set, 8-4, to Guy and Shen. The teams of Moore-Rainey and Park-Hill rebounded to win the last two sets to complete the sweep.

Freshmen Park, Moore and Rainey dominated in their first taste of non-tournament play.

"They were great," USC Head Coach Richard Leach said. "If they were nervous at all, being their first match, they sure didn't show it out there."

During the weekend, USC turned a few heads with its performance in the National Collegiate Tennis Classic.

The NCTC, called "the Wimbledon of College Tennis," featured the top eight teams in the nation, according to last season's final rankings.

The Trojans took second place in both singles and doubles competition. Kukal took on crosstown rival UCLA's Jean-Noel Grinda in the finals of the singles competition, but fell short against Grinda, 6-3, 6-4.

Despite losing in the finals, Kukal was very excited about his level of play.

"This tournament has given me great confidence and momentum for the season," Kukal said.

In the doubles final, the team of Moore-Rainey were defeated by K.J. Hippensteel and Ryan Wolters of the top-ranked Stanford Cardinal.

Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 136, No. 03 (Wednesday, January 20, 1999), on page 23.