Men?s Tennis Falls To UCLA In NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

LOS ANGELES, Calif. ? The University of Colorado men’s tennis team ran into a stronger well-balanced opponent Sunday afternoon, falling to No. 10 ranked UCLA, 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament played at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The Bruins (19-5), the 2005 defending NCAA champion, have won nine of their last 10 matches and advance to the Round of 16 hosted by Stanford University, May 18-23 in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Buffaloes, who entered the Big 12 Conference season with a 9-5 record, surged thereafter winning 11 of their next 14 before Sunday’s loss to the Bruins, end the season at 20-9.

UCLA, playing their 14^th home match of the year (12-2 at the LATC this season) won the doubles point, then subsequently defeated the Buffaloes in three of the next six singles positions at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5.

Against the nationally ranked Bruins, the competition started off very interesting with doubles. After UCLA’s number two nationally ranked tandem of Philipp Gruendler/Benjamin Kohlloeffel defeated Marko Bundalo and Eric Molnar, 8-3 at No. 1 doubles, it looked as if the Bruins would sweep the doubles point.

However, trailing 7-2 at No. 2 doubles, CU’s Chad Tsuda/Geoffrey Chizever fought back to close their deficit to 7-4 before losing, 8-4. By winning two of three doubles slots, UCLA claimed the single point and a 1-0 lead. CU’s No. 3 doubles team of Marek Dvorak and Jan Zelezny was stopped at 6-6 with Mathieu Dehaine/Jeremy Drean.

The lone bright spots for CU in singles play came at No. 4 and No. 6 singles with Zelezny and Dvorak, respectively. Zelezny won the first set against Philipp Gruendler, 6-3, then lost the second, 6-4.

Dvorak also split his first two sets against Michael Look. Dvorak lost the opening set 6-0, but rebounded 6-4 in the second. Both Dvorak and Zelezny’s matches were stopped in the third set with UCLA holding a 2-1 lead in both matches.

“It was a great year and everything to be proud of,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “UCLA is a very good team and they took control early. I thought we performed well and played at a high level. The guys represented the University of Colorado extremely well. I’m very proud our guys and I believe the University of Colorado is also proud.”

The CU men’s tennis team performed a number of accomplishments this spring. Some of them include the highest national ranking in the history of the program (No. 23), six players winning a school record 20 singles victories apiece during the year, and a 20-win season, a first since 1997. The NCAA Tournament appearance was a school first since 1998.

No. 10 UCLA 4, No. 23 Colorado 0

UCLA (19-5), CU (20-9)

NCAA Tournament Second Round

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

1d) (2) Gruendler/Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. Bundalo/Molnar 8-3

2d) Abid/Surapol (UCLA) def. Tsuda/Geoffrey Chizever 8-4

3d) Dvorak/Zelezny (CU) vs. Dehaine/Jeremy Drean (UCLA) 6-6 - did not finish

1s) (1) Benjamin Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. (51) Eric Molnar 6-0, 6-0

2s) Haythem Abid (UCLA) def. Peter Bjork 6-2, 6-4

3s) (100) Mathieu Dehaine (UCLA) vs. Marko Bundalo (CU) 7-5, 4-3 - did not finish

4s) Jan Zelezny (CU) vs. Philipp Gruendler (UCLA) 6-3, 4-6, 1-2 - did not finish

5s) (96) Chris Surapol (UCLA) def. Chad Tsuda 6-2, 6-3