UCLA
National Indoor Championships
Men's Tennis Falls To Stanford In USTA/ITA National Mens Team Indoor Finals
February 27, 2000 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 27, 2000
Louisville, Ky. - Stanford topped UCLA 4-3 to capture the title today at the USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships hosted by the University of Kentucky at the Louisville Tennis Club.
Cardinal junior Alex Kim beat Jong-Min Lee 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 1 singles to break a 3-3 tie and clinch Stanford's 11th title at this event. This is the 17th straight year that a school from the state of California has won this tournament.
The tournament was using an experimental format where match tie-breakers (first to 10, win by two) were being played in place of a third set in singles. Stanford won three of the four matches that were extended to match tie-breakers, including Kim's clinching win.
Geoff Abrams, Scotty Scott and Ali Ansari accounted for Stanford's three other wins in singles.
"UCLA has a great team and I'm sure they'll get back at us this year," Stanford coach Dick Gould said. "We play them another two times and might even be meeting in the big one [NCAA final] down the road. So you can't get too excited about it. But I'm very happy with the way we competed, the way we came back and the way we kept fighting. Especially when things weren't going our way."
Both teams were playing without their top players. Stanford's third-ranked K.J. Hippensteel (mono) has not played a dual match this season. UCLA All-American Jean-Noel Grinda (back) has sat out 12 of UCLA's 13 matches this season.
Either Stanford or UCLA has won this tournament since 1990. Stanford also won team indoor titles in '92, '94, '95 and '98. UCLA won titles in '91, '93, '96, '97 and '99.
These teams will meet at least two more times this season. UCLA visits Stanford on April 7 and the Cardinal goes to Los Angeles on April 22.
DOUBLES 1. Abrams/Kim (S) def. Kramer/Lee (UCLA), 8-5 2. Jean Noel Grinda/Rojer (UCLA) def. Lipsky/Martin (S), 8-6 3. Ketola/Travis Rettenmaier (UCLA) def. Ansari/Scott (S), 9-8 (8-6)* UCLA wins doubles pointSINGLES 1. Alex Kim (S) vs. Jong-Min Lee (UCLA), 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) 2. Geoff Abrams (S) def. Brandon Kramer (UCLA) , 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) 3. Scotty Scott (S) def. Julien Rojer (UCLA), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3) 4. Lassi Ketola (UCLA) def. David Martin (S), 6-4, 7-5 5. Erfan Djahangiri (UCLA) def. Scott Lipsky (S), 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9) 6. Ali Ansari (S) def. Chris Sands (UCLA), 7-5, 6-4
