College Tennis News - UNLV Men Close Regular Season With Upset of SDSU

Makeup Magic: Rebs Stun Aztecs

UNLV closes regular season by downing No. 42 San Diego State.

April 19, 2009

LAS VEGAS - Making up a match that was originally scheduled to be played in Colorado Springs last month, the UNLV men's tennis team earned its biggest win of the season, 4-3 over No. 42 San Diego State on a warm and sunny Sunday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

The Rebels closed out their regular-season schedule by improving to 13-11 overall and 2-4 in Mountain West Conference play while the Aztecs, who failed to arrive at the original meeting site because of weather problems, fell to 13-11 and 1-3. SDSU was the highest ranked team that UNLV defeated since shocking No. 10 Oklahoma State on March 13, 2005.

The Aztecs began the morning by taking two of three hotly contested doubles matches for a 1-0 lead. UNLV's victory came at the second spot where Nikolaj Wulff and Attila Toth won 8-4. SDSU clinched it when its top duo upset No. 79 Elliot Wronski and Luca Barlocchi at the top spot 9-7.

Moving to singles play, UNLV got three straight-set wins to get back in it. Freshman Mehdi Bouras eased past Bartosz Golas 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2, another freshman, Toth, won 6-3, 6-3 over Andre Feliz at No. 5, and then Barlocchi downed Giovanni Vaglietti 6-1, 7-5 at the fourth spot. With the Aztecs getting easy wins at Nos. 3 and 6, all eyes moved to court one.

Senior standout Elliot Wronski won the first set over Achim Ceban 6-3, but saw the second set get away from him in a 7-6 tiebreaker. Wronski was leading 4-1 in the deciding set when Ceban retired, which clinched the upset for the hosts.

"We ending up getting a second senior day and it was fitting that today came down to Elliot Wronski playing his final match here at UNLV and again coming through for us," said Rebel head coach Owen Hambrook. "Overall the team has stayed positive and kept working hard. Everyone's positive attitude today made the difference against one of the best teams in the league. The guys now get to go to the conference tournament coming off a win and everyone is excited. We'll be ready to play no matter who we play."

UNLV awaits seeding and scheduling details for the MWC championships, which begins Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M.


UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS
UNLV 4, #42 SAN DIEGO STATE 3
At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
Singles

Doubles
1. Ceban/Gomez (SDSU) def. #79 Barlocchi/Wronski (UNLV) 9-7
2. Toth/Wulff (UNLV) def. Vaglietti/Colman (SDSU) 8-4
3. Golas/van Endert (SDSU) def. Bouras/Burrows (UNLV) 8-5
1. Eilliot Wronski (UNLV) def. Achim Ceban (SDSU) 6-3, 6-7, 4-1 retired
2. Mehdi Bouras (UNLV) def. Bartosz Golas (SDSU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Wesley Burrows (UNLV) 6-2, 6-2
4. Luca Barlocchi (UNLV) def. Giovanni Vaglietti (SDSU) 6-1, 7-5
5. Attila Toth (UNLV) def. Andre Feliz (SDSU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Tim Schulz van Endert (SDSU) def. Matthew Kunkel (UNLV) 6-0, 6-0