Colorado University Athletics

Men's Tennis Defeats Arizona, 4-1, Advance To NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

Men's Tennis Defeats Arizona, 4-1, Advance To NCAA Tournament 2nd Round
Related Links

LOS ANGELES, Calif. ? In their first NCAA Tournament appearance in eight years, the University of Colorado men’s tennis team continued to make it a season to remember defeating No. 43 Arizona, 4-1, Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament first round at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The Buffaloes, ranked No. 23 nationally, improve to 20-8 overall, their first 20-win season since 1997 and defeated the Wildcats for the first time in five attempts. Arizona ends the season at 12-10.

CU will play the defending NCAA champion, UCLA Bruins in round two, Sunday at 2 p.m. (mountain standard time). The match can be watched with live scoring courtesy of the UCLA men’s tennis web site (http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/ucla-m-tennis-body.html). The No. 10 ranked/seeded Bruins defeated Stony Brook, the America East Conference champion, 4-0, also on Saturday.

The winner of the four-team bracket will advance to the Round of 16 hosted by Stanford University, May 18-23 at the Taube Family Tennis Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

Against the Wildcats, CU rallied in singles play after falling in the doubles point in three closely played matches. At No. 1 doubles, the duo of Marko Bundalo and Eric Molnar upset No. 47 Claudio Christen/Jeff Groslimond, 8-5 for their 10th win of the year and three of their last four. At positions, No. 2 and No. 3, the Wildcats squeaked out a pair of 9-8 decisions to claim the doubles point and 1-0 lead.

Riding its momentum from a spectacular comeback in doubles, Arizona actually started out as the stronger team in singles play, taking the first set on four of six courts. However, the Buffaloes flexed their muscle at the bottom of their singles line up winning positions three through six.

“We played great, really solid in doubles today,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “It was tough to lose those points, but Arizona did a great job. In singles, Arizona jumped ahead early. Marko (Bundalo) and Chad (Tsuda) stepped up as true seniors - what leadership. There were so many positives today. After Peter (Bjork) won his second set, then Eric (Molnar) won his second, I think that gave our guys the momentum.”

On court No. 4, junior Jan Zelezny evened the team score at one sweeping Bruno Alcala in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 for his 23rd singles win of the year. Bundalo then put the Buffaloes up 2-1 when he battled back from a set down to defeat Claudio Christen, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at court No. 3. Bundalo won his 20th match of the year becoming the sixth CU player this year to win that many matches.

With CU up in the team score 2-1, senior Chad Tsuda posted a 7-5, 7-6(7) decision over Jason Labrosse, bringing the Buffaloes to within one point of clinching. Tsuda, one of the three seniors on the team, broke a four-match losing streak and recorded his 23rd match victory of the year.

The Buffaloes finally reached the winners’ circle and berth in the NCAA second round as Marek Dvorak rebounded from a close first set loss to eventually defeat Peter Zimmer, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2.  With the victory, Dvorak wins his 26th match of the year moving into third place on CU’s all-time season singles victories list.

“All the credit goes to the players,” said CU assistant coach Albin Polonyi. “They are the ones who have worked through the adversity with resiliency and stayed focused with the challenges faced this season.”   

 

No. 23 Colorado 4, No. 43 Arizona 1

CU (20-8), UA (12-10)

NCAA Tournament First Round

May 13, Los Angeles, Calif., Los Angeles Tennis Center

 

1d) Bundalo/Molnar (CU) def. (47) Christen/Groslimond 8-5

2d) Matalonga/Labrosse (UA) def. Tsuda/Geoffrey Chizever 9-8(2)

3d) Alcala/Zimmer (UA) def. Dvorak/Zelezny 9-8(5)

 

1s) (51) Eric Molnar (CU) vs. Roger Matalonga (UA) 4-6, 7-5, 2-1 ? did not finish

2s) Jeff Groslimond (UA) vs. Peter Bjork (CU) 6-0, 4-6, 5-2 ? did not finish

3s) Marko Bundalo (CU) def. Claudio Christen 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

4s) Jan Zelezny (CU) def. Bruno Alcala 6-4, 6-4

5s) Chad Tsuda (CU) def. Alex Labrosse 7-5, 7-6(7)

6s) Marek Dvorak (CU) def. Peter Zimmer 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2

Order of finish: 4, 3, 5, 6

 

 

CU match notes:

- Since March 26, CU is 11-3 (only losses were No. 3/t4 Texas and No. 6 Baylor)

- CU’s singles wins at No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No.6 was the seventh time all four slots won at the same time

- CU improved to 7-2 against teams ranked No. 26 through 50 (Arizona was ranked No. 43)

- Marko Bundalo is the sixth CU player this season to win 20 matches. Already a school record for players with at least 20 wins, Bundalo joins teammates Peter Bjork (27), Marek Dvorak (26), Eric Molnar (25), Chad Tsuda (23), Jan Zelezny (23)

- CU has won five of its last seven matches

- Sunday’s match up with No. 10 UCLA, will be the 23rd time this spring the Buffs play a ranked school

- CU and UCLA have never played each other

- CU is 2-6 against the nation’s Top-25

- CU is now 7-6 on neutral courts

- CU improved to 5-9 this dual season when losing the doubles points; they are 12-0 when winning the doubles point

- CU has defeated 14 nationally ranked schools this spring

- their biggest upset victory of the spring was defeating No. 19 Texas A&M (4-2) back on April 7

- No. 23 nationally ranking is their highest ranking ever

- Junior Eric Molnar, ranked No. 51st in the nation, is one of the 64 singles players selected to play at the NCAA singles tournament, May 24-29 at the Stanford Taube Tennis Center.  He’s the first CU men’s player since 1996 when Marc Bauer advanced to the Round of 32.