Feb. 14, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS, MN-- The Wake Forest men's tennis team was defeated by the University of Minnesota, 5-2 on Friday evening at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. The 31st-ranked Golden Gophers improve to 3-1 while the 42nd-ranked Demon Deacons are now 2-2.

After taking the doubles point by winning two of the three doubles matches, Minnesota went on to take four of the six singles matches. Wake Forest's Todd Paul at No. 3 and Andrew Simpson at No. 6 were the only Deacons to escape with victories on Friday. But the Demon Deacons did not go down without a fight, sending three of their four losses to three sets.

The Demon Deacons return to action when they take on Virginia Commonwealth Saturday in Minneapolis.

#31 Minnesota 5, #42 Wake Forest 2

Doubles

No. 1-- Spice/Ross (WFU) def. Estes/Ticer (UM), 8-6
No. 2-- Zharinov/Wilkins (UM) def. Hamar/Paul (WFU), 8-6
No. 3-- Osorio/Wettengel (UM) def. Bates/Simpson (WFU), 8-5

Singles

No. 1-- Alex Zharinov (UM) def. Derrick Spice (WFU), 7-6(2), 6-3
No. 2-- Chris Wettengel (UM) def. Andrew Hamer (WFU), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3-- Todd Paul (WFU) def. Avery Ticer (UM), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
No. 4-- Andres Osorio (UM) def. Brett Ross (WFU), 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
No. 5-- Clay Estes (UM) def. Liron Strauss (WFU), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5)
No. 6-- Andrew Simpson(WFU) def. Dusan Tabak (UM), 0-6, 6-2, 6-2