Colorado University Athletics

No. 25 CU Holds On To Beat No. 46 Texas Tech, 4-3

No. 25 CU Holds On To Beat No. 46 Texas Tech, 4-3
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LUBBOCK, Texas ? The University of Colorado men's tennis team, up 3-1 in the match, prevailed and fought for five hours Sunday afternoon for a thrilling 4-3 victory over the No. 46 Texas Tech Red Raiders.  With the win, the Buffaloes end a four-match losing streak to the Red Raiders and earned its first win at Texas Tech since Feb. 28, 1998. 

 

“It was a great match,” head coach Sam Winterbotham said after the win.  “Marek (Dvorak) played lights out today against his opponent (and) Peter had a fantastic tennis match.  It was good to see our guys cheering hard for Peter.  It was a great performance from everybody and I thought this road trip was a success.”

 

With the match tied at 3-3, junior Peter Bjork, down one set, rallied to defeat Tech’s Dimitrio Martinez 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the 18th victory for the Buffaloes this spring season.  With his 27th victory overall, Bjork has won the most matches of any CU player since Stefan Figley went 27-7 in 1991-92.  The CU leader for singles wins in a season is James Johnson (28-4, 1986-87).

 

Along with Bjork’s clinching victory, many Buffaloes contributed heavily to today’s match.  No. 63 Eric Molnar, fresh off from last week’s wins over the seventh and eighth-ranked players in the country, continued to be in the winner’s circle by defeating No. 64 Adrian Prpic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.  Molnar has now won seven of his past nine matches and has only yielded one set in those seven wins.  Junior Marek Dvorak is also enjoying a winning pattern with his 13th victory in 18 matches, winning easily over Teddy Biasi, 6-0, 7-6.

 

In doubles, CU’s No. 2 duo of Chad Tsuda and Jan Zelezny clinched the doubles point for Colorado with an 8-6 defeat of the Red Raider duo of Martinez and Michael Breler.  Tsuda and Zelezny are now 7-2 in spring play.  The No. 1 doubles team of Molnar and Marko Bundalo has a team-best eight victories this spring after a tough 9-7 win over TTU’s Prpic and Christian Rojmar.

 

With the win, Colorado has clinched the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament in Waco, Texas, with a 5-2 conference record.  It is the Buffs best finish since the league debuted in 1996-97.  Colorado earns the No. 3 seed whether or not No. 17 Texas A&M (4-2) beats No. 4 Texas later this evening because of the head-to-head tiebreaker that Colorado won on April 7.  Coincidentally, Colorado will face Texas Tech again on Friday, April 28, in the first round of the tournament, as Tech has the No. 6 spot in the Big 12. 

 

 

No. 25 Colorado 4, No. 46 Texas Tech 3

Colorado (18-7, 5-2 Big 12), Texas Tech (13-10, 2-5 Big 12)

Apr. 23, Don & Ethel McLeod Tennis Center, Lubbock, Texas

 

1s) No. 63 Eric Molnar (CU) def. No. 64 Adrian Prpic (TTU), 6-3, 6-2

2s) Peter Bjork (CU) def. Dimitrio Martinez (TTU), 6-7, 6-2, 6-2

3s) Christian Rojmar (TTU) def. Jan Zelezny (CU), 6-3, 6-2

4s) Sinisa Markovic (TTU) def. Marko Bundalo (CU), 7-6, 6-3

5s) Michael Breler (TTU) def. Chad Tsuda (CU), 6-3, 6-2

6s) Marek Dvorak (CU) def. Teddy DiBlasi (TTU), 6-0, 7-6

 

(Order of finish: 3, 1, 6, 5, 4, 2)

 

1d) Bundalo/Molnar (CU) def. Prpic/ Rojmar (TTU), 9-7

2d) Tsuda/Zelezny (CU) def. Martinez/Breler (TTU), 8-6

3d) DiBlasi/Markovic (TTU) def. Dvorak/Chizever (CU), 8-6

 

(Order of finish: 1, 3, 2)