Oct. 19, 2003
EUGENE, Ore. - The Santa Clara University men's tennis made program history at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional, hosted by the University of Oregon at the Student Tennis Center in Eugene.
In doubles quarterfinals today, it took five match points, but Gernot Fischer and Eric Kochanski topped Washington's Christoph Palmanshofer and Pete Scharler by a 9-7 score and then went on to defeat third-seeded Thomas Bieri and Manuel Kost of Oregon 8-3 in the semifinals.
Fischer and Kochanski have already bested the Broncos' previous top effort, when Chris Lam and Rick Ruso advanced to the semifinals of the 2002 Regional. The tandem will face the No. 1 seed of Alex Slovic and Alex Vlaski of Washington Monday at noon for the chance to advance to the national tournament, hosted by the University of Michigan.
"Gernot and Eric both had a high first serve percentage and were making a ton of returns," head coach George Husack described. "They were animals out there on the court, and that's what they need to do to play at this level."
In consolation singles, Ben Hidalgo advanced to the quarterfinals with his third-round win over Oregon's Eric Pickard. Hidalgo played Washington's Scott Felsenthal, but fell 6-3, 6-2.
The Broncos will close out the fall season at the Southern California Intercollegiate November 5-9.
Doubles, Quarterfinals
Fischer/Kochanski (SCU) def. Palmanshofer/Scharler (WASH) 9-7
Doubles, Semifinals
Fischer/Kochanski (SCU) def. (3) Bieri/Kost (ORE) 8-3
Consolation Singles, Third Round
Joe Kao (STAN) def. Francisco Zepponi (SCU) 6-3, 7-6 (2)
Ben Hidalgo (SCU) def. Eric Pickard (ORE) 7-6, 3-6 (10-5)
Andreas Peterson (CAL) def. Kevin McQuaid (SCU) 7-5, 7-5
Consolation Singles, Quarterfinal
Scott Felsenthal (WASH) def. Ben Hidalgo (SCU) 6-3, 6-2