MEN?S TENNIS EDGED BY DENVER, 4-3

BOULDER ? It took four and a half hours with little sunlight left, but the University of Denver ousted the Colorado men’s tennis team, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference match played at the CU-Boulder South Campus Tennis Courts.

DU’s Jason Tan edged Chad Tsuda for the deciding point in the team score in a tough three-set match, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 at No. 5 singles. The Pioneers won their sixth of its last eight and won in Boulder for the first time ever improving to 11-8. The Buffaloes dropped their seventh straight and fall to 5-12.

CU took the early lead taking two of three doubles points winning the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. It was only the second time all season against Division I opponents that CU opened the competition taking the doubles point (Nebraska was the other). Marko Bundalo and Marcos Digliodo took a 9-8 (10-8) decision at No. 1 and at No. 2, Tsuda and Evan Dixon pushed the home team to a 1-0 lead with an 8-3 triumph.

In singles, CU made it 2-0 behind Peter Bjork’s straight set winner at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-1. The match see-sawed back and forth thereafter as the Buffaloes could muster only one more team point.

Marek Dvorak won in three sets at No. 4 after dropping the first set, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(2). Dvorak halted a five-match losing streak to reach the winners circle for the first time since March 6.

With the momentum in CU’s favor, the Pioneers rallied at the No. 1, No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 slots for the win. The DU victory was only the second over CU in 22 career meetings.

“It was great to win the doubles point,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “This team is trying hard, but we’re not firing on all cylinders right now. You have to give Denver a great deal of credit. They won two tie-break matches at one. They fought hard and came through after losing the doubles point. We’re not playing up to our potential right now. I have the nucleus of a team that cares and they fight; everybody on this team has to take it upon themselves for us to move forward.”

Colorado travels to the state of Oklahoma this weekend to take on No. 43 Oklahoma State on Saturday (April 3) and No. 65 Oklahoma on Sunday (April 4).

Denver 4, Colorado 3

Boulder, Colo. March 31

CU-Boulder South Campus Tennis Courts

Denver (11-8), Colorado (5-12)

1d) Bundalo/Digliodo (CU) def. Smole/Gaber 9-8(8)

2d) Tsuda/Dixon (CU) def. Zetterholm/Tan 8-3

3d) Ljubic/Popovic (DU) def. Dvorak/Bjork 8-3

1s) #94 Nejc Smole (DU) def. Marko Bundalo 7-6(17), 7-6 (2)

2s) Peter Bjork (CU) def. Urban Ljubic 6-2, 6-1

3s) Hans Peter Gaber (DU) def. Macos Digliodo 6-3, 6-4

4s) Marek Dvorak (CU) def. Viktor Zetterholm 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(2)

5s) Jason Tan (DU) def. Chad Tsuda 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3