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Four Pac-12 teams advance in men's NCAA tennis championships

May 10, 2013

Five Pac-12 men’s tennis teams began play in the sport’s Big Dance Friday. Three of them played in California, one in Ohio, and one in Florida. UCLA, USC, and Stanford hoped the home coast would prove advantageous while Washington (in Columbus) and California (in Gainesville) left for unfamiliar territory. Alas, the friendly confines proved unkind to Stanford as the Cardinal dropped its opening round match, 4-2, to the LSU Tigers. Stanford's season ends with a record of 12-12.

[RelatedInteractive bracket, news and more at @ NCAA.com]

And on to the advancers. The top-seeded UCLA Bruins and No. 4 USC Trojans each advanced with ease (4-0), defeating the UMKC Kangaroos and Sacramento State Hornets respectively. Both schools hosted the event and will be back into action in short order. The Bruins will next face the MVC’s Drake Bulldogs at 3 pm PT on Saturday while the Trojans host the Toreros of USD at the same time. In Columbus, the Washington Huskies advanced in dramatic fashion and by escaping to the indoors. They defeated Notre Dame, 4-3, behind Marton Bots’ clinching victory that was disrupted by local showers and moved to an indoor court. Washington will next face the fifth seeded Ohio State Buckeyes (in Columbus, mind you, where OSU hasn’t lost since April, 2003) Saturday at 9 a.m. PT. Traveling the farthest were the California Golden Bears, who beat FSU, 4-1, in Gainesville. Cal advances to the second round for a date with Denver who upset #15 Florida. A match set to start at 1 pm PT on Saturday. Five entered, four advanced. Round two is next.

[Related: UCLA tops USC for Pac-12 tennis title]