No. 51 Men's Tennis Rallies Past No. 54 Utah, 4-3

BOULDER ? The University of Colorado men's tennis team, down 3-1 early in their match, won the last three singles matches, all in straight sets, to comeback and win an exciting match over the No. 54 ranked University of Utah, 4-3. Junior Marek Dvorak finished the rally at No. 6, defeating Utah’s Dan Mascall in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(0).

“Today was a great day for Marek,” head coach Sam Winterbotham said after the match. “He stepped up. Last year, we had a 3-3 match against Utah and it came down to Marek’s match and I know he took that one pretty tough because he was on the losing side. This year, he was so determined to make sure it was a different outcome.”

Colorado fell behind after losing the doubles point and after Jan Zelezny dropped a tough three-set match to Nick Coutts 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Yet Colorado started their come-from-behind victory when Marko Bundalo won his 50^th career match, crushing Dan Mascall 6-4, 6-0. Bundalo has now won four consecutive matches.

The Buffaloes continued to gain momentum when senior Chad Tsuda, who remains perfect in the spring season (3-0), defeated Ryan Scott in straight sets. Junior Peter Bjork is also three-for-three this spring by a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Grzyb.

Winterbotham was very pleased with the final result.

“It showed we have great depth on our team, especially in the last hour. We really stepped up and played well.”

Colorado will try to sweep their matches this weekend when they host Montana State University on Sunday. The Bobcats are ranked No. 71 in the latest ITA National Rankings. The match is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start at the Harvest House in Boulder. Admission is free and open to the public.

No. 51 Colorado 4, No. 54 Utah 3

Colorado (3-0), Utah (4-2)

Feb. 4, Harvest House, Boulder, Colo.

1s) Zach Ganger (Utah) def. No. 60 Eric Molnar (CU) 6-1, 7-6(5)

2s) Peter Bjork (CU) def. Tomasz Grzyb (Utah) 7-6(4), 6-3

3s) Nick Coutts (Utah) def. Jan Zelezny (CU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

4s) Marko Bundalo (CU) def. Wes Hancock (Utah) 6-4, 6-0

5s) Chad Tsuda (CU) def. Ryan Scott (Utah) 6-2, 6-3

6s) Marek Dvorak (CU) def. Dan Mascall (Utah) 6-2, 7-6(0)

1d) Ganger/Coutts (Utah) def. Bundalo/Molnar (CU) 8-6

2d) Grzyb/Yap (Utah) def. Zelezny/Dvorak (CU) 8-4

3d) Tsuda/Bjork (CU) def. Mascall/Hancock (Utah) 8-3