5/21/2001

ATHENS, Ga.-- Tennessee advanced to the NCAA Tennis Final Four today by defeating No. 1 seed and defending national champion Stanford 4-2 at the University of Georgia Tennis Center, ending the Cardinal's 18-match winning streak.

The Vols (22-5) will be making their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tennis Final Four after losing a heartbreaker to Virginia Commonwealth a year ago in the semifinals. The Cardinal were without the services of the nation's No. 1 player Alex Kim, who had trouble with cramps during Stanford's 4-0 win Saturday over Pepperdine in the round of 16. The Vols semifinal opponent will be No. 4 Texas Christian, who were 4-0 winners over Texas A&M in the quarterfinals.

"It is something we have worked extremely hard for all year," said UT head coach Michael Fancutt. "It's funny it is almost a year to the day from our us losing in the Final Four last year, when we were a couple of points and cramps away from playing Stanford in the finals. We've been looking forward playing Stanford again, basically all year. That's been one of our goals. Beating the No. 1 seed is one thing, but winning the national championship has been a main goal all season."

Stanford (24-2) began the match taking the doubles point with wins in the Nos. 1 and 3 matches. The Cardinal pair of Scott Lipsky and David Martin, ranked No. 14 nationally, started things off by defeating Tennessee's No. 44 tandem of Andy Crews and Peter Handoyo 8-6 in the No. 1 match. Tennessee then bounced back with an 8-2 win by No. 20 Adam Carey and Mark Parsons over No. 41 Ali Ansari and Scotty Scott in the No. 2 match. Stanford's duo of K.J. Hippensteel and Ryan Haviland then clinched the point for the Cardinal with an 8-2 win over Simon Rea and Mario Toledo in the No. 3 match. The loss was Rea and Toledo's first since pairing up together for the tournament season.

Stanford kept the heat on to start the singles segment, with Scott Lipsky defeating Simon Rea in the No. 6 match to up to raise the Stanford lead to 2-0. Tennessee would come right back behind the play of junior Adam Carey. No. 54 Carey defeated Scotty Scott 6-2, 6-3 in the No. 4 match and began the resurgence of the Vols in the match. No. 25 Peter Handoyo struck next for the Big Orange, winning the No. 3 match. Handoyo defeated No. 77 Ryan Haviland 6-2, 6-1 for his ninth win in his last 10 matches. Tennessee's No. 31-ranked Mark Parsons ended a four-match losing streak and gave Tennessee a lead they would not relinquish in a 6-2, 7-6(8) win over No. 18 K.J. Hippensteel in the No. 1 match.

Tennessee's Mario Toledo and Paul Podbury were then left to settle the issue with the Cardinal in the Nos. 2 and 5 matches respectively. It would be No. 58 Toledo, playing at No. 2, who would put the finishing touches on the Vols' first victory over Stanford in five tries. Toledo attained his second straight clinching point and his fifth straight win overall over Stanford's No. 53 David Martin to end the match.

The Vols will face TCU in Tuesday's 4 p.m. semifinal matchup at Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Center. TCU was this season's Western Athletic Conference champions and currently stands at 24-3 on the season. Tennessee is 4-0 all-time against the Frogs, winning the last matchup 5-2 in the 1988 NCAA tournament.