Men?s Tennis Defeats No. 63 Denver, 6-1 on Senior Day

BOULDER ? The University of Colorado men’s tennis team wrapped up their home portion of the schedule defeating the University of Denver, 6-1, on Senior Day, Sunday afternoon at the South Campus Tennis Courts. The tennis team honored a trio of seniors as Marko Bundalo, Justin Rofel and Chad Tsuda stepped on the courts for the last time for a home match.

The Buffaloes, ranked No. 28 nationally have won eight of their last nine matches, completed their home record with a 9-1 record and wrapped up their Mountain Region play with a perfect 12-0 mark. DU falls to 12-6.

“It was a great Senior Day, a really good crowd, beautiful day and I couldn’t have scripted it much better,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “It means a lot to me seeing the development of Chad, Marko and Justin who have meant so much to the program. They were here through those tough couple of years where we started to build to where we are; they laid the foundation and I’m so pleased they’re able to enjoy this success.

“I couldn’t be happier that we finished Senior Day with a good victory over an in-state rival. DU has a very good tennis team and Geoff (Young) has done a great job.”

CU jumped ahead early securing the doubles point taking two out of three slots. Tsuda and Jan Zelezny were the first ones off the court defeating Niklas Persson/Viktor Zetterholm, 8-1. It was Tsuda/Zelezny’s sixth win in eight outings this season. The Buffs clinched the doubles portion a few minutes later as Geoffrey Chizever and Marek Dvorak rolled to an 8-2 victory over Steve Flaks and Aljosa Nipic. Chizever/Dvorak won their third match in five tries.

With a 1-0 lead, CU added three straight singles points thereafter with Dvorak, Tsuda and Bundalo completing the victory. Dvorak defeated Kalle Rosen at No. 6 in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 for 15^th win of the spring (23^rd overall); Tsuda reached the winners’ circle for the second time on the day wrapping up is home career with a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Aljosa Nipic at No. 5. Tsuda also won his 15^th match of the spring and 22^nd of the year.

With the victory, Tsuda won is 65^th career match becoming only the 10^th CU player to win that many in a career.

The Buffaloes clinched the match with Bundalo defeating Viktor Zetterholm 6-2, 7-6(2) at No. 4. Bundalo inched closer to becoming the sixth CU student-athlete with 20 match victories in a single season winning his 18^th of the year and closing the tie-breaker victory with an ace. Bundalo won his 62^nd of his career.

CU wrapped up their fifth and sixth points of the afternoon as Eric Molnar defeated Niklas Persson 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(8) at No. 1 for his sixth triumph in his last seven matches. Molnar won his team-best 16^th dual match and 24^th of the year.

Zelezny broke a thee-match losing skid, his longest of the season defeating Steve Flaks at the No. 3 slot, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Zelezny won his 12^th match of the spring and 22^nd of the year.

CU heads to the road to take on No. 4 Baylor (Friday, April 21) and No. 42 Texas Tech (Sunday, April 23) next weekend before the Big 12 Tournament begins on April 27-30 at the University of Baylor.

No. 28 Colorado 6, No. 63 Denver 1

CU (17-6), DU (12-7)

April 16, South Campus Tennis Courts

Boulder, Colo.

1d) Holmstrom/Smole (DU) def. Bundalo/Molnar 8-6

2d) Tsuda/Zelezny (CU) def. Persson/Zetterholm 8-1

3d) Dvorak/Geoffrey Chizever (CU) def. Flaks/Nipic 8-2

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

1s) Eric Molnar (CU) def. Niklas Persson 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(8)

2s) Nejc Smole (DU) def. Peter Bjork 6-4, 5-7, 1-0(4)

3s) Jan Zelezny (CU) def. Steve Flaks 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

4s) Marko Bundalo (CU) def. Viktor Zetterholm 6-2, 7-6(2)