MTN | Dons Start WCC Play With Win Over Pacific - University of San Francisco Athletics

Friday, March 23

San Francisco

11 a.m.

University of San Francisco

Pacific

Photo by: Christina Leung

MTN | Dons Start WCC Play With Win Over Pacific

3/23/2018 6:59:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The University of San Francisco men's tennis team faced the Pacific Tigers on Friday afternoon at the Olympic Club. Coming down to the final match, the Dons won 4-3.

USF had a slow start to the match as Marco Barretto and Paul Giraud dropped their double 2-6. Johan Joenhagen and Mert Zincirli came back for their team with a 6-3 win, but the doubles point was lost by the Dons when Ryan Marker and Oliver Poysti fell 3-6.

After Barretto started singles with a 0-6, 1-6 loss, the Dons were ready for a comeback. Up first was Joenhagen's 6-1, 6-3 victory followed by a 6-4, 6-3 win from Giraud. Marker also secured a 6-4, 6-3 win, but as Poysti dropped his match 3-6, 4-6.

Going into Zincirli's match, the Dons were tied 3-3. With each player winning a set, the match went into a third set. In the end, Zincirli won 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 and secures a 4-3 win for the Dons.

COACHES CORNER
"I'm really proud of the way the guys fought today," said head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida. "They has a lot of grit and held on until the end. Mert really brought it home for the team."

Doubles (order of finish: 3,1,2)

Joenhagen and Zincirli def. Akram El Sallaly and John Horoz; 6-3
Tadiwa Chinamo and Bernardo Oliveira def. Marker and Poysti; 6-3
Ross Watson and Nathan Hampton def. Giraud and Barretto; 6-2

Singles (order of finish: 6,1,5,4,3,2)

Joenhagen def. Watson; 6-1, 6-3
Zincirli def. Chinamo; 6-7 (9-11), 6-1, 6-4
Oliveira def. Poysti; 6-3, 6-4
Marker def. El Sallaly; 6-4, 6-3
Giraud def. Johnathan Lieu; 6-4, 6-3
Mikayel Khachatryan def. Barretto; 6-0, 6-1

UP NEXT
The Dons are at the Cal Club tomorrow, Saturday, Mar. 24 for a match against Saint Mary's. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. Follow the Dons on twitter @usfmenstennis.