April 28, 2006

SAN DIEGO - Despite building a 3-0 advantage, the 62nd-ranked UNLV men's tennis team allowed No. 61 Utah to rally for a 4-3 victory on Friday in the completion of a first-round matchup at the Mountain West Conference tournament at the Barnes Tennis Center.

The Rebels, who saw their four-match winning streak vs. Utah snapped, ended their season at 13-9 overall while the 63rd-ranked Utes, who moved on to face San Diego State in Friday's semifinals, improved to 15-9.

In a meeting that was originally scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Thursday but was repeatedly delayed because of bad weather, the Rebels won both completed doubles matches late last night before the rains returned to take a 1-0 overnight lead.

UNLV also came out firing this morning and took the first set on four of six singles courts. The Rebels quickly got wins at the second spot by Elliot Wronski, 6-2, 6-2, over Tomasz Grzyb, and then at No. 5 by Jonathan Hooper, 6-1, 6-2, over Jason Yap for their third point. After the Utes won a pair of matches, UNLV's top player, Joel Kielbowicz, allowed Zach Ganger to tie things with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory at No. 1.

All eyes came down to Brett Hunter at No. 4, but Wes Hancock eventually gutted out a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 third-set tiebreaker victory to end the Rebels' season.

"After having the momentum last night, we came out strong today but unfortunately couldn't close out an extremely tight match," UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook said. "It's a tough loss to swallow in what was the last college match for our two seniors, Joel and Romain."

Even with the quick exit from the league event, Hambrook became the first men's coach in Rebel history to finish at least four matches over .500 in each of his first three seasons at the helm.

"We enjoyed some success in what was a basically a rebuilding year," he said. "We have a very solid group of returning players so we look forward to next season."

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS2006 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT#61 UTAH 4, #62 UNLV 3At Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Kielbowicz/Hunter (UNLV) vs.Ganger/Coutts (UU) DNF2. Wronski/Hooper (UNLV) def.Yap/Grzyb (UU) 8-33. Massaro/Burrows (UNLV) def.Dan Mascall/Hancock (UU) 8-3
SINGLES: (UTAH EARNS FOUR TEAM POINTS)1. Zach Ganger (UU) def. Joel Kielbowicz (UNLV) 4-6, 6-3, 6-42. Elliot Wronski (UNLV) def. Tomasz Grzyb (UU) 6-2, 6-23. Nick Coutts (UU) def. Romain Massaro (UNLV) 6-1, 6-24. Wes Hancock (UU) def. Brett Hunter (UNLV) 3-6, 6-3, 7-65. Jonathan Hooper (UNLV) def. Jason Yap (UU) 6-1, 6-26. Ryan Scott (UU) def. Wesley Burrows (UNLV) 7-6, 6-2