Colorado University Athletics
Men?s Tennis Earns NCAA Tournament Berth, Will Play No. 43 Arizona
The Buffaloes (19-8) will play No. 43 Arizona (12-9) in the first round beginning next Saturday, May 13 at the
The other two schools in the four-team bracket are the host Bruins (17-5) and Stony Brook (14-6).
Day two of the four-team second round will take place on Sunday, May 14 with the winners from round one advancing to the Round of 16 hosted by Stanford University, May 18-29 at the Taube Family Tennis Center in Palo Alto, Calif.
“Arizona is a very good program, they’re in a great conference so they play great programs all the time,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham, who earlier in the week was named Co-Big 12 Coach of the Year.
The Buffaloes ranked No. 23 nationally in the latest ITA rankings finished third overall in the Big 12 Conference, take on the No. 43 ranked Wildcats, who were fifth overall in the Pac-10 with a 4-8 record. It will be the 22nd time this season the Buffs will play a nationally ranked school. CU is 2-6 against the nation’s Top-25, 6-2 against team’s ranked No. 26 through 50.
UCLA, ranked No. 10 nationally, is also the No. 10 seed in the tournament. The Bruins are the defending NCAA national champion, while the Sea Wolves won the American East Conference championship.
“Growing up we always watched all the other sports and their selection shows and now finally being apart of it, is pretty exciting for all of us,” said senior Chad Tsuda.
The Buffaloes who play against eight of the 12 conference schools that have men’s tennis are all nationally ranked; the Wildcats, who play seven of 10 schools in the Pac-10 with men’s tennis, six are also ranked.
Colorado/Arizona have met four times in their history with the Wildcats winning all four, three of those on neutral courts. They last played March 8, 1992 with
If CU defeats the Wildcats in the opening round, the Buffaloes will face either UCLA or Stony Brook for the first time ever and will begin at 2 p.m. (mountain).
CU has performed numerous accolades attributing to its most successful season in a decade. The Buffs are ranked No. 23 nationally, their highest ITA ranking ever and are coming off their first Big 12 Conference semifinal appearance since 1997.
The 19 match wins are the most since 1997 and earlier this week, both Peter Bjork and Eric Molnar made the All-Conference singles team, a Big 12 first with CU two players being named to the team at the same time. Molnar and Marko Bundalo were also named to the conference doubles team.
Other men’s tennis notes:
- In conference play: CU won five Big 12 matches, the most since 1998.
- CU won the Mountain Region tag during the spring achieving a school-first 12-0 record. They also won the ITA Mountain Regional Playoff in January at
- The Buffs went 9-1 at home (6-1 outdoors, 3-0 indoors), they’re most wins at home since the 1989-90 season.
- The Buffaloes began the conference season with a 4-0 start. The last time they started the conference season unbeaten was 1992-93 (6-0 overall in the Big 8).
- Since March 26, when CU men’s team began the conference season they are 10-3
- From March 26-April 7, the Buffs won six straight matches, the most since winning seven in a row in 1993-94.
- CU has defeated 13 nationally ranked schools; and 11-2 against teams ranked from No. 26-75.
- five CU players have won at least 20 matches this season, a school first, Peter Bjork (27), Marek Dvorak (25), Eric Molnar (25), Chad Tsuda (22), Jan Zelezny (22).
- Marek Dvorak and Eric Molnar join fellow teammate Peter Bjork (27 wins) as the only trio in school history from the same year with at least 25 triumphs in a single year. Bjork is tied for second all-time, followed by Dvorak and Molnar in sixth place.
- Eric Molnar is the No. 51 nationally ranked singles player (May 1)
- Eric Molnar was named Big 12 Player of the Week (April 2-9) after defeating the ITA/Fila No. 8 Jerry Makowski, Texas A&M 6-1, 6-1; and No. 7 Travis Helgeson, 6-4, 7-6(5) of Texas.
- Peter Bjork has won 27 singles and are the most of any CU player since Stefan Figley went 27-7 in 1991-92 conference opponents.
- Eric Molnar was one of three finalists as CUSPY’s Male Athlete of the Year