May 11, 2002

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Tulane University dropped a hard-fought battle with Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by a 4-2 score on Saturday morning at Stanford University's Taube Tennis Center.

The Huskies appeared to be on their way to an easy win as they picked up the first three points of the match.

Washington first clinched the doubles point thanks to an 8-5 victory from Chrostoph Palmanshofer (St. Georgen, Austria) and Peter Scharler (Salzburg, Austria) at No. 3.

Washington then picked up quick singles victories from Dillon Ruby (Westlake Village, CA) at No. 5 and Matt Hanlin (Birmingham, England) at No. 1 to move one point away from the win.

Tulane, however, came roaring back and cut the deficit on 3-2 on victories from Jorge Lievano (Bucaramanga, Colombia) at No. 4 and Mattias Westerberg (Lulea, Sweden) at No. 3. The Green Wave appeared they might complete the comeback, as it led 5-2 in the third set at No. 6 and was tied at 4-4 in the third set at No. 2.

Washington, however, did not lose another game. At No. 2, Huskies' freshman Alex Vlaksi broke serve to take a 5-4 lead and then held serve to clinch the match.

"We were right there today, and put ourselves in a position to win," Tulane head coach Robert Klein said. "Washington is a good team, and they were just better than we were today."

Tulane sophomore Michael Kogan (Kfar-Saba, Israel) and junior Victor Romero (Atizapan, Mexico) will be in action at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships beginning May 22 in Texas. The pair will team up in the Doubles Championship, while Kogan will compete in the Singles Championship. Romero is also likely to see action in the Singles Championship as he is the No. 1 alternate for the event, which features 64 players.

Results: No. 35 Washington 4, No. 32 Tulane 2

Doubles:
1. No. 19 Kogan/Romero (Tulane) def. Strasberg/Vlaski (Washington): 8-5
2. Hanlin/Ruby (Washington) def. Piiroinen/Vasiljevic (Tulane): 8-3
3. Palmanshofer/Scharler (Washington) def. Westerberg/Lievano (Tulane): 8-5

Singles:
1. No. 49 Matt Hanlin (Washington) def. No. 20 Michael Kogan (Tulane): 6-4, 6-4
2. No. 29 Alex Vlaski (Washington) def. No. 56 Victor Romero (Tulane): 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
3. Mattias Westerberg (Tulane) def. Ari Strasberg (Washington): 7-6. 6-3
4. Jorge Lievano (Tulane) def. Christoph Palmanshofer (Washington): 7-6, 7-6
5. Dillon Rubu (Washington) def. Goran Vasiljevic (TU): 6-2, 6-0
6. Hannu Piiroinen (TU) led Peter Scharler (Washington): 4-6, 6-3, 5-5

Records:
Tulane (18-8)
Washington (18-6)

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