Men's Tennis Snaps OU?s 11-match Winning Streak, Defeats OU, 5-2

NORMAN, Okla. ? Fresh off their highest national ranking in 10 years, the University of Colorado men’s tennis team made it back-to-back wins to begin the Big 12 Conference season defeating No. 41 Oklahoma, 5-2, Tuesday afternoon. The win is the Buffaloes third of their last four and improve to 11-5 and 2-0 in conference play, while the Sooners 11-match winning streak comes to a halt. OU falls to 14-4 and 1-1.

Earlier in the day, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced their new rankings for the week with the Buffs entering tonight’s play as the No. 35 ranked school. The ranking is the highest since ending the 1996-97 season at No. 35.

CU also opens the conference season at 2-0, a school first since opening 2-0 during the 1996-97 campaign.

“We came out and won five of six first sets,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “We did a great job of finishing. The guys represented the University of Colorado how they were suppose too, they fought with class. It’s everything the University of Colorado and its athletic department is about.”

The win is Colorado’s first victory in Norman since 2002 and ended a four-match losing skid to the Sooners. It's also the first time since the 1995-96 season CU has defeated both Oklahoma schools on the road in back-to-back matches.

After losing the doubles point, the Buffs stormed back in singles play evening the match at one with Jan Zelezny defeating Sergey Avdeyev, 6-1, 6-4. Zelezny won his sixth straight and improved his dual match record to 9-2.

From there, CU flexed its muscle winning the next four singles slots with Eric Molnar upsetting No. 84 Marek Velicka 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1; Marek Dvorak followed at No. 6 defeating Ryan Thomas 6-4, 6-4; and at No. 3, Marko Bundalo clinched the team victory rallying from a set down upending Tommy Garrison 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Peter Bjork, ranked No. 121 nationally added the fifth singles point defeating Alexei Ivanov in straight sets, 6-0, 7-6(1).

Bjork and Dvorak each have a team-best 11 victories this spring.

CU heads home for seven consecutive matches at the South Campus Tennis Courts with another conference match this Sunday, April 2 against Nebraska. The Buffs then play a pair against Northern Colorado (April 4) followed with Texas A&M (April 7) and Texas (April 9). Other home matches are Boise State (April 14) and the home finale against in-state rival Denver (April 16). All home matches begin at 1 p.m.

No. 35 Colorado 5, No. 41 Oklahoma 2

CU (11-5, 2-0 Big 12), OU (14-4, 1-1 Big 12)

March 28, Norman, Okla.

Doubles

1d) Ivanov/Velicka (OU) def. Bundalo/Molnar 8-6

2d) Chavarria/Garrison (OU) def. Tsuda/Zelezny 8-6

3d) Bjork/Dvorak (CU) def. Long/Thomas 8-5

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles

1s) Eric Molnar (CU) def. (84) Marek Velicka 6-3, 6-4

2s) (121) Peter Bjork (CU) def. Alexei Ivanov 6-0, 7-6(1)

3s) Marko Bundalo (CU) def. Tommy Garrison 4-6, 6-2, 6-3