March 13, 1998

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Despite winning five of the nine matches, two in singles and all three in doubles, due to the scoring system employed in men's collegiate tennis the 24th-ranked California men's tennis team was defeated by Fresno State, 4-3, in a non-conference dual match at the Hellman Tennis Center Friday afternoon. The loss was only Cal's second of the season and dropped the Golden Bears to 8-2 on the year, while Fresno State evened its record at 5-5 with the win.

The Golden Bears got out to a hot start, sweeping all three doubles matches, but under NCAA men's tennis scoring regulations, only earned one point for their efforts. Cal's doubles tandem of Bobby Mahal and Nathan Jackmon halted a two-match losing streak in the No. 1 position with a 8-6 win over the Bulldogs Peter Luczak and P.J. Dormire. The Cal duos of Chris Santoso/David Sutton and Minh Le/Erik Dmytruk also posted wins for the Bears in the Nos. 2 and 3 slots, respectively.

In singles action, Fresno State was able to halt the Bears momentum. After Mahal notched his 12 win of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 straight-set victory over Olivier Le Jeune in the No. 1 singles position, Cal was able to win only one more match as the Bulldogs stormed back to take four of the six singles points to secure the victory. Cal got its only other singles victory from Jackmon, who defeated Dormire 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 at No. 4.

The California men's tennis team will try to bounce back from only its second loss of the year when the Bears return to the hard courts to face Brigham Young, Saturday, Mar. 21 at 12 noon. The match will be played at the Hellman Tennis Center on the Cal campus.

MEN'S COLLEGE TENNIS


FINAL SCORE:    Fresno State    4 
                California      3 
                
Singles (One point each)

1. Bobby Mahal (Cal) def. Olivier Le Jeune (FSU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Peter Luczak (FSU) def. Minh Le (Cal) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6
3. Andy Scorteanu (FSU) def. Adrian Barnes (Cal) 7-5, 7-6
4. Nathan Jackmon (Cal) def. P.J. Dormire (FSU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-0
5. Rob Cheyne (FSU) def. Chris Santoso (Cal) 6-3, 7-5
6. David Mullins (FSU) def. David Sutton (Cal) 6-4, 6-3

Doubles (One point for winning 2-of-3)

1. Jackmon/Mahal (Cal) def. Dormire/Luczak (FSU) 8-6
2. Santoso/Sutton (Cal) def. Le Jeune/Vieira (FSU) 8-4
3. Eric Dmytruk/Le (Cal) def. Mullins/Scorteanu (FSU) 8-4