Feb. 16, 2002

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - The 48th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team fought off No. 15 Minnesota with a 5-2 victory at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center Saturday afternoon. The Golden Gophers won two doubles matches to capture the team point but then the Demon Deacons battled back to win five of six singles matches to extend Wake Forest's winning streak to four.

Wake Forest's Mike Murray (Jr., St. Petersburg, FL) and Derrick Spice (Fr., N. Olmsted, OH) remain unbeaten in dual doubles play, winning the No. 2 doubles match 8-5 over Reven Stephens and Manuel Lievano.

David Loewenthal (So., Franklin Lakes, NJ), ranked 30th in singles, made quick work of Minnesota's Aleksey Zharinov, winning in straight sets in the No. 1 singles match by scores of 7-5, 6-4. David Bere (Jr., Midland, MI) topped Lievano 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the No. 3 singles match and Wake Forest's Trent Brendon (Jr., Victorville, CA) took the No. 5 singles match with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Avery Ticer. Justin Kaufmann (Sr., Mission Hills, KS) and Mike Murray (Jr., St. Petersburg, FL) secured the win for the Demon Deacons as Murray fought off Chris Wettengel 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in the No. 4 singles match and Kaufmann picked up the 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Stephens in the No. 6 singles match.

Wake Forest improves its record to 4-1 with the win and Minnesota falls to 4-1 with the loss. The Demon Deacons return to action next weekend when they host No. 70 Georgia State at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23 and then No. 75 East Tennessee State at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24 in the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center. Minnesota will stick around the Twin City (Winston-Salem, NC, as oppossed to Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN) to take on the VCU Rams tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. in the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

#48 Wake Forest 5
#15 Minnesota 2

Singles
No. 1 #30 David Loewenthal (WFU) def. #78 Aleksey Zharinov (UM) 7-5, 6-4
No. 2 #62 Thomas Haug (UM) def. Derrick Spice (WFU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 David Bere (WFU) def. Manuel Lievano (UM) 7-6 (3), 6-4
No. 4 Mike Murray (WFU) def. Chris Wettengel (UM) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
No. 5 Trent Brendon (WFU) def. Avery Ticer (UM) 6-4, 7-6 (5)
No. 6 Justin Kaufmann (WFU) def. Reven Stephens (UM) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1

Doubles
No. 1 Haug/Boris Kuharic (UM) def. #48 Loewenthal/Brendon (WFU) 8-6
No. 2 Murray/Spice (WFU) def. Stephens/Lievano (UM) 8-5
No. 3 Zharinov/Ticer (UM) def. Kaufmann/Bere (WFU) 9-7