NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament : USC Defeats UC Irvine Again, 5-2

The NCAA quarterfinal men’s tennis match between USC and UC Irvine Sunday had more to do with capability than ability.

USC’s Jonas Wallgard, healthy for the first time this season, won his match and Irvine’s Richard Lubner, suffering from a groin pull, lost his as USC defeated Irvine, 5-2, at the University of Georgia in Athens.

It was USC’s third victory over Irvine this season, all by the same score.

Wallgard had arthroscopic knee surgery in February and missed a month of the season. After returning, he suffered a sprained ankle in April. But he has recuperated in time for the national championships. Wallgard, playing No. 5 singles, defeated Irvine’s Shige Kanroji, 7-5, 6-2.

Irvine lost any chance of upsetting the Trojans in the No. 3 singles match pitting Lubner against USC’s Byron Black.

Lubner defeated Black twice during the regular season, but, could not overcome the muscle pull, and lost, 6-3, 7-5.

Stanford survived the defeat of its No. 1 singles player to beat seventh Kentucky, 5-2.

Kentucky’s top player, Greg Van Emburgh, defeated David Wheaton, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, but Stanford won four of the other five singles matches and its No. 3 doubles match to gain the semifinals.

Pepperdine’s No. 1 and No. 2 players both lost as sixth-seeded Michigan upset the fourth-seeded Waves, 5-3.

In the final quarterfinal match, second-ranked LSU defeated eighth-seeded Georgia, 5-3. LSU’s Jeff Brown beat the Bulldogs’ Al Parker, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 1 singles.