UCLA
Stanford
Top-Ranked Bruins Defeat No. 4 Stanford, 5-2
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
April 2, 1999
LOS ANGELES - The No. 1 ranked UCLA men's tennis team posted an important Pac-10 Conference victory over 4th ranked Stanford University, 5-2, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center today.
The Bruins improve to 17-1 overall, 3-1 in Pac-10 Conference action. The Cardinal falls to 11-2 overall and 5-1 in league play.
UCLA started the day on a positive note claiming the lone point awarded for doubles play. The Bruins No. 6 ranked team of Jason Cook/Brandon Kramer finished quickly with an 8-3 upset of Stanford's No. 2 ranked duo of K.J. Hippensteel/ Ryan Wolters. The Cardinal evened doubles play as the No. 13 ranked team of Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim defeated UCLA's No. 19 ranked team of Jean-Noel Grinda/ Jong-Min Lee, 8-4. With the doubles point on the line UCLA's team of Marcin Rozpedski/Chris Sands rallied from a 3-6 deficit to post a 9-7 win over Stanford's team of Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott.
Typical of the competition between these two schools, singles action was closer than the final scores indicated as five tiebreakers were contested and two matches went three sets. First to finish was court No. 4 where UCLA's Lee won the final five games en route to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Stanford's Kim. Moments later, UCLA's No. 8 ranked Grinda claimed a second-set tiebreaker 9-7 to upset Stanford's No. 3 ranked Wolters in the top-slot and put the Bruins ahead 3-0.
Stanford got on the board when No. 15 ranked Hippensteel won a battle between two of the top rookies in the nation as he defeated UCLA's Zack Fleishman 6-4, 7-6(4) on court No. 3. The Bruins clinched the match when Kramer downed Scott 7-5, 6-2 in the No. 5 slot.
The final two matches then went into a third set and the outcomes were split for the final margin of victory. On court No. 6 Stanford's Ansari rebounded from a 5-7 loss in the first to win the second in a tiebreaker 7-6(4) and claimed the third 6-4 for the victory over UCLA's Sands. The closest contest of the day took place on court No. 2 where UCLA's No. 100 ranked Cook upset Stanford's No. 40 ranked Abrams, 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 6-2.
The Bruins continue their final homestand of the season tomorrow, Saturday, April 3, hosting the University of California at Noon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Also remaining in the homestand are three matches next week. Texas A&M comes to the LATC for a 1:30 p.m. match on Tuesday, April 6, while Pac-10 foes Oregon and Washington come to town Friday and Saturday.
Here are today's position-by-position results:
Doubles - (UCLA wins point) No. 1 (6) J. Cook / B. Kramer (UCLA) def. (2) K.J. Hippensteel/R. Wolters 8-3 No. 2 (13) G. Abrams/A. Kim (Stan) def. (19) J. Grinda / J. Lee (UCLA) 8-4 No. 3 M. Rozpedski / C. Sands (UCLA) def. A. Ansari / S. Scott (Stan) 9-7Singles No. 1 (8) Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) def. (3) Ryan Wolters (Stan) 6-2, 7-6(7) No. 2 (98) Jason Cook (UCLA) (40) Geoff Abrams (Stan) 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 6-2 No. 3 (15) K.J. Hippensteel (Stan) def. Zack Fleishman (UCLA) 6-4, 7-6(4) No. 4 Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) def. (47) Alex Kim (Stan) 6-4, 6-4 No. 5 (99) Brandon Kramer (UCLA) def. Scotty Scott (Stan) 7-5, 6-2 No. 6 Ali Ansari (Stan) def. Chris Sands (UCLA) 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4
Final Team Score: UCLA 5, Stanford 2
