thrThe 39th-ranked University of Minnesota men's tennis team lost 4-3 to No. 38 Fresno State last night in a marathon match that took five hours and two venues to complete. Fresno State's Andy Sinn's three-set victory at No. 6 singles gave the Bulldogs (9-6) the win over the Golden Gophers (4-6, 1-1 Big Ten).

Sinn's 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 win over Dusan Tabak capped a match that lasted 5 hours 14 minutes. The victory came after the contest was moved to the Copper River Country Club due to lack of light at Fresno State's Wathen Tennis Center. At the time of the move, Tabak had just broken Sinn to make the score 5-5.

Minnesota (4-6) started fast, claiming the doubles point by posting wins at Nos. 1 and 3. At No. 1, 46th-ranked Avery Ticer and Clay Estes clinched the 1-0 lead by edging Sergiu Modoc and Stefan Suta 9-8 (6).

In singles, Jakub Cech tied the match score at 1-1 after making quick work of Brian Lipinski at No. 5 in a 6-3, 6-2 win. But the Golden Gophers, who were playing without the services of No. 1 singles player Aleksey Zharinov, made it 2-1 with a straight-set win by Andres Osorio over Charles Irie at No. 3.

The see-saw affair was knotted at 2-2 when 51st-ranked Greg Shearer came back from being a break down in the second set to take out No. 89 Chris Wettengel, 6-4, 6-4.

With the score tied 2-2, three matches remained on court - Nos. 2, 4 and 6, the latter two being closely contested in a third set. The first off was No. 2, where Avery Ticer defeated Alex Krohn 6-4, 6-2 to put Minnesota one victory away from a road win. The Bulldogs eventually tied the score at 3-3 when Suta posted a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback victory over Clay Estes.

That brought it down to No. 6, where Sinn defeated Tabak in a wild third set to give the Bulldogs the win.

#38 Fresno State 4, #39 Minnesota 3
March 16, 2004
Fresno, Calif.

Singles
No. 1 - #51 Greg Shearer (FS) def. #89 Chris Wettengel (MN), 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 - Avery Ticer (MN) def. Alex Krohn (FS), 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 - Andres Osorio (MN) def. Charles Irie (FS), 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 - Stefan Suta (FS) def. Clay Estes (MN), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - Jakub Cech (FS) def. Brian Lipinski (MN), 6-3, 6-2 No. 6 - Andy Sinn (FS) def. Dusan Tabak (MN), 6-3, 1-6, 7-5

Doubles
No. 1 - #46 Estes/Ticer (MN) def. Modoc/Suta (FS), 9-8 (6)
No. 2 - Krohn/Cech (FS) def. Lipinski/Wilkins (MN), 8-2
No. 3 - Wettenger/Osorio (MN) def. Shearer/Irie (FS), 8-2