April 10, 1998

BERKELEY, Calif. -- The No. 28 California men's tennis team fell to 54th-ranked Arizona, 4-3, in a tightly contested Pac-10 dual match at the Hellman Tennis Center Friday afternoon. With the loss, the Golden Bears dropped to 13-4, 6-3 Pac-10, and coupled with their defeat at the hands of Stanford on Tuesday, have now dropped back-to-back matches for the first time this season. Arizona, on the other hand, improved to 6-9 overall, 3-7 Pac-10, with the victory.

With the threat of rain once again in the forecast, the two teams played the singles portion of the dual first. Minh Le got the Bears off to an early 1-0 advantage with an easy 6-4, 6-1 victory over Arizona's Michael Stopa. But the Wildcats rallied back behind wins from Jerome Oliveri, Roland Kupka and Mike MacKay to knot the dual at 3-3 heading into doubles.

With the momentum now on its side and one of Cal's top doubles players, Bobby Mahal, unable to go because of a sore elbow, Arizona clinched the victory by taking the doubles point with wins in two of the three pro sets. Cal actually took the first doubles set as Adrian Barnes and Scott Kintz, who were playing for only the second time together in the No. 2 slot, defeated Kupka and Adnan Novo, 8-4. The Wildcats soon squared the things as MacKay and Pascal Salasca knocked of first-time partners David Sutton and Nathan Jackmon on court No. 3, 8-4. The match was finally decided on court No. 1 as the UA tandem of Oliveri and Stopa defeated Cal's duo of Erik Dmytruk and Le, 8-5.

Cal will try to get things back on track when it returns to action Saturday, April 11, in its final Pac-10 home dual match of the season against No. 35 Arizona State. Match time is scheduled for 12 noon at the Hellman Tennis Center on the Cal campus.

No. 54 ARIZONA AT No. 28 CALIFORNIA

Singles (One point each)
1. Jerome Oliveri (UA)  def.    Bobby Mahal (Cal)   6-3, 6-4
2. Roland Kupka (UA)    def.    Nathan Jackmon (Cal)    6-1, 2-6, 6-4
3. Minh Le (Cal)        def.    Michel Stopa (UA)   6-4, 6-1
4. Mike MacKay (UA)     def.    Adrian Barnes (Cal) 7-6, 6-2
5. Kian Raiszadeh (Cal) def.    Pascal Salasca (UA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. David Sutton (Cal)   def.    Jean-Noel Lacoste (UA)  7-6, 6-4

Doubles (One point for winning 2-of-3)
1. Oliveri/Stopa (UA)       def.    Eric Dmytruk/Le (Cal)   8-5 
2. Barnes/Scott Kintz (Cal) def.    Kupka/Adnan Novo(UA)    8-4 
3. MacKay/Salasca(UA)       def.    Sutton/Jackmon (Cal)    8-4