April 17, 2005

MOSCOW, Ida. - Senior Dru Ernst pulled out a three set victory on Sunday afternoon to lead the Gonzaga University Bulldogs to a 4-3 victory over the University of Idaho as the Bulldogs gained some momentum heading into the West Coast Conference Championships next weekend in Malibu, Calif. Gonzaga improves to 5-13 on the year but has won two matches in a row.

Idaho picked up the first point of the afternoon as the doubles point came down to No. 2 doubles. Seth Banks and John Hieb of Idaho held off three Gonzaga match points to eventually pull out the 9-8 win and push the Vandals to an early 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs then picked up two early points in singles play as Bryce Cooper and Marco Pineda collected two-set wins at No. 1 and No. 5 singles. A two-set win by Hector Mucharraz at No. 3 singles evened the match at 2-2. Robert Penney won the Bulldogs third point at No. 6 singles with a three-set win over Uriah Jones while Cooper Fratt lost the third game of his No. 4 singles match 10-6 to once again even the match, this time at 3-3.

Ernst then posted a dominant 6-1 victory in the third set of Rob Chalkley to give Gonzaga the win.

GONZAGA 4, IDAHO 3Moscow, ID
SINGLESNo. 1 Bryce Cooper (GU) def. Terence Nugent (UI), 6-4, 6-3No. 2 Dru Ernst (GU) def. Rob Chalkley (UI), 6-2, 5-7, 6-1No. 3 Hector Mucharraz (UI) def. Brett Womack (GU), 7-6, 6-2No. 4 Seth Banks (UI) def. Cooper Fratt (GU), 6-7, 7-6, 10-6No. 5 Marco Pineda (GU) def. John Hieb (UI), 6-2, 7-5No. 6 Robert Penney (GU) def. Uriah Jones (UI), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
DOUBLESNo. 1 Fratt/Reid Arthur (GU) def. Nugent/Jones (UI), 8-2No. 2 Banks/Hied (UI) def. Fratt/Womack (GU), 9-8No. 3 Chalkley/Mucharraz (UI) def. Pineda/Cooper, 8-3