UW blanks Gonzaga, Princeton -- then shut out by Pepperdine

The No. 28 men's tennis team (13-3) did exactly what they had to do against unranked Gonzaga (0-14) and Princeton (4-8). The UW pummeled the Bulldogs 7-0 in Seattle on March 10 and took down the Tigers by an identical score on March 20 in Malibu, Calif.

But on March 21, the Huskies just weren't up to the task against No. 2 Pepperdine (20-1). The UW was swept in the doubles point and was never able to recover. Pepperdine won all six singles matches to complete the sweep.

The team's only losses coming into the Pepperdine match were both 4-1 against No. 3 Illinois and No. 9 UCLA in the USTA/ITA National Indoor tournament. Both matches were much closer than the final scores indicated.

This wasn't the case against the Waves. They dominated the Huskies from start to finish.

On March 10 in Seattle any hopes of playing Gonzaga outside at Bill Quillian Stadium were quickly dashed by poor weather conditions.

Inside the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center and out of the elements, the Huskies poured it on the Zags.

Juniors Daniel Chu and Alex Slovic breezed through their No. 1 match, winning it 8-1. Junior Klaus Jank and sophomore Andy Kuharszky won by the same score at No. 2.

Playing his first doubles match of the year and of his UW career, freshman David Chu paired with junior Michael Ricks to win 8-3 in the No. 3 match. Chu also won at No. 6 singles 6-3, 6-2 against Gonzaga's Charles Adams in what he later said was his best match of the year in singles.

"One of the things for him is to find the appropriate middle ground," said Anger. "He plays his best when he's not over-or under-hitting the ball."

Chu credited the coaches' decision to let him see doubles action in order to help his singles performance.

"I think because I played dubs as well as singles, I found my groove," he said.

The Huskies needed every bit of their groove to pull out the doubles point against Princeton in Malibu.

The No. 18 doubles team of Chu and Slovic were tested, but prevailed 9-7 at No. 1. Jank and Kuharszky were also pushed to the end, but won 8-6. Princeton's Darius Craton and Shannon Morales defeated Ricks and Jean-Noel Insausti in the No. 3 match 8-4.

But the singles were all Washington, as only two of the six matches were relatively close.

Reach Daily reporter Jeff Brown at [url='mailto:jeffbrown@thedaily.washington.edu']jeffbrown@thedaily.washington.edu[/url]