TENNIS NCAA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS : USD’s Noriega Advances to Second Round

University of San Diego’s Jose Luis Noriega won the opening round of the NCAA men’s individual tennis tournament and will meet 11th-ranked Nick Barone of Mississippi in today’s second round in Athens, Ga.

Eighth-ranked Noriega, a three-time All-American, defeated Auburn’s Matt Hewitt, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to improve his singles record to 33-5.

A victory today would earn Noriega a rematch with the winner of today’s Matt Lucena-David DiLucia match. Both players defeated Noriega this year. Noriega, a junior, won three rounds of this tournament last year and made it to the round of 16 his freshman year.

Georgia’s Patricio Arnold beat Ricardo Herrera of San Diego State 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Joe McDonough of San Diego State lost to Donny Isaak of USC, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

USC’s Byron Black, seeded eighth, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Tamer El Sawy of Louisiana State.

Fourth-seeded Brian MacPhie of USC defaulted because of a pulled hamstring. He sustained the injury in the third set of his match against Harvard’s Michael Zimmerman, who was leading, 1-6, 6-2, 2-0.

UCLA’s Jason Netter, last year’s runner-up, ousted Mark Booras of West Virginia, 6-3, 6-4; teammate Fritz Bissell beat Tim Jessup of Tennessee, 6-2, 6-2, but Bruin Mark Knowles lost to Fabio Silberberg of Tennessee, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.