Doubles Sweep Leads No. 5 Bears Past NAIA No. 10 Graceland, 5-4

BOX SCORE

St. Louis, Mo., March 12, 2011 – A doubles sweep propelled the No. 5 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men’s tennis team to a 5-4 victory over NAIA No. 10 ranked Graceland University on Saturday afternoon at the Tao Tennis Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Following the doubles sweep, freshman Tim Noack made quick work of Manuel Lindekeit, 6-1, 6-1 to push the lead to 4-0. Sophomore Kareem Farah followed with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Laurentsi Arakhamiya at No. 5 singles to clinch the match for Washington University. The win improved Farah’s singles record to 9-2, while Noack improved to 13-1.

Graceland, which dropped its overall record to 3-4, swept No. 1 through No. 4 singles to round out the scoring at 5-4. Senior Max Woods lost a three-setter (6-4, 4-6, 10-4) to Carlos Yanes at No. 2, while sophomore Gary Parizher dropped a 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 10-7 loss to Kai Drwecki at No. 4 singles.

The Bears swept doubles play for the third time this season and has lead following doubles in seven of eight matches this season. Woods and senior Isaac Stein won at No. 1 (8-4), followed by a 9-7 win by Farah and junior Cameron Chiang at No. 2 doubles. Parizher and sophomore Adam Putterman had the most impressive doubles victory of the day, winning 8-0 at No. 3.

Washington University (6-2) returns to action on Friday, March 25, against No. 6 ranked University of California-Santa Cruz. The match is schedule to begin at 10 a.m., in San Antonio, Texas. The Bears will also take on No. 9 Trinity University and No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on its four-day trip to Texas.