April 27, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Make it UNLV 2, TCU 0.
Just hours after the UNLV women knocked off the Lady Horned Frogs in their bracket, the Rebel men's tennis team continued to be the surprise of the Mountain West Conference tournament by rolling to an upset of No. 68 TCU 4-0 on Friday to advance to their first league title tilt since 2001.
The third-seeded Rebels improved to 12-13 overall while the second-seeded Horned Frogs finished the season at 10-12 after going 5-1 during the MWC regular season, including squeaking out a 4-3 home win over UNLV back on April 14.
Playing in cool Colorado conditions at the Air Force Academy, UNLV is simply red hot. The teams split the first two completed doubles matches with the Rebels' win coming at No. 2 where Wesley Burrows and Jonathan Hooper downed Chris Biro and Radu Barbu 8-4. The team point would come down to the bottom court and David Campbell and Slavko Bijelica took the thriller, 9-8 in a tiebreaker, to secure the 1-0 lead.
"Once again the guys had great energy and managed to win a closely contested doubles point," said UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook. "We were down in the deciding match but rallied to take it, which was big for us."
In singles, UNLV won the first set on all six courts. First off was Luca Barlocchi as the "Swiss Wizard" dispatched Stuart Row at No. 6 by the score of 6-4, 6-2. Campbell, the squad's only senior in the singles lineup, was next to score with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Andrew Ulrich at No. 5. Burrows ended things by closing out Radu Barbu 7-6, 6-3 at the third spot. The remaining matches were then halted.
"We got off to a great start in singles," Hambrook said. "We kept our focus and finished off a big victory over a well-coached TCU team."
The Rebels, who have now posted three straight shutouts, will face BYU on Saturday looking for their first-ever MWC crown and first league title of any kind since winning the Big West Conference in 1996. The fifth-seeded Cougars stunned top-seeded San Diego State 4-3 in Friday's other semifinal. Live scoring will be available at www.themwc.com with a start time of noon PT.
During the regular season, UNLV took a 5-2 decision over the Cougars on March 29 but that match was played at sea level in San Diego while tomorrow will be played at altitude amongst the Rocky Mountains. UNLV's only other appearance in the Mountain West final came in 2001 when BYU won 4-0.
"Now we have to regroup and get ready for a tough match tomorrow," says Hambrook. "BYU will be very tough but we are looking forward to the challenge."
UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTSMOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE SEMIFINALSUNLV 4, #68 TCU 0At AFA Outdoor Tennis Facility, Colorado Springs
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. #43 Brink/Cotet (TCU) def. Wronski/Hunter (UNLV) 8-52. Burrows/Jonathan Hooper (UNLV) def. Biro/Barbu (TCU) 8-43. Campbell/Bijelica (UNLV) def. Ulrich/Caleb Bulls (TCU) 9-8
SINGLES: (UNLV EARNS THREE TEAM POINTS)1. #71 Elliot Wronski (UNLV) vs. #103 Cosmin Cotet (TCU) DNF2. Slavko Bijelica (UNLV) vs. Chris Biro (TCU) DNF3. Wesley Burrows (UNLV) def. Radu Barbu (TCU) 7-6, 6-34. Brett Hunter (UNLV) vs. Kriegler Brink (TCU) DNF5. David Campbell (UNLV) def. Andrew Ulrich (TCU) 6-3, 6-36. Luca Barlocchi (UNLV) def. Stuart Row (TCU) 6-4, 6-2
