Men?s Tennis Edged by Slimmest of Margins, 4-3 to No. 26 VCU

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? The University of Colorado men’s tennis team narrowly pulled off their biggest upset of the season falling to No. 26 Virginia Commonwealth University, 4-3, Thursday evening, on the first day competition of the 18-team Blue-Gray National Collegiate Tennis Classic at the Lagoon Park Tennis Center in Montgomery, Alabama.

The match originally scheduled early Thursday afternoon, was delayed due to rain.

The Buffaloes and the Rams opened play with the singles competition first with both schools splitting each of the six singles slots, with doubles to follow.

CU won position No. 3, while VCU took No. 2. The deciding match came down to No. 1 doubles with the Rams No. 45 nationally ranked doubles team of Arnaud Lecloerec/Petr Olsak edging Molnar/Bundalo, 9-8 (8-6).

VCU, seeded No. 3 in the tournament, moves to the next round and improves to 13-4, while the Buffs slip to 8-4 and play No. 44 Mississippi State, Friday, 1:30 p.m.

“VCU is a very, very good team,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “Today’s match came down to one-to-two points. I’m extremely proud of our guys and they represented the program the way we wished they would.”

CU secured singles wins at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 slots. Marko Bundalo won his fifth consecutive match at No. 2 in straight sets; No. 96 Peter Bjork also won in straight sets picking up his fifth consecutive win at No. 3; and at No. 4, Jan Zelezny, ranked No. 111 nationally, picked up his second win in three outings, won in two sets.

In doubles, Bjork and Chad Tsuda picked up CU’s lone win at No. 3 taking an 8-6 winner.

The Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic runs through Sunday, March 19. The Buffaloes are competing with 17 other teams from around the country, which include Top 20 teams No. 12 Louisville, No. 20 Notre Dame, and fellow Big 12 opponent No. 37 Texas Tech.

No. 26 Virginia Commonwealth 4, No. 38 Colorado 3

VCU (13-4), CU (8-4)

March 16, Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic

1s) (19) Arnaud Lecloerec (VCU) def. Eric Molnar 7-6(6), 6-2

2s) Marko Bundalo (CU) def. Petr Olsak 6-3, 6-1

3s) (96) Peter Bjork (CU) def. Francesc Lleal 6-4, 6-2

4s) (111) Jan Zelezny (CU) def. (t-125) Georges-Alexandre Israel 6-4, 6-2

5s) Sergi Arumi (VCU) def. Chad Tsuda 6-2, 6-2

6s) Damien Lacombe (VCU) def. Marek Dvorak 6-4, 6-4

1d) (45) Lecloerec/Olsak (VCU) def. Molnar/Bundalo 9-8 (6)

2d) Lleal/ Arumi (VCU) def. Dvorak/Zelezny 8-4

3d) Bjork/Tsuda (CU) def. Lacombe/ Lindgren 8-6