March 29, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS - The 65th-ranked UNLV men's tennis team had its chances to pull off the upset of No. 34 New Mexico but ultimately lost 5-2 playing indoors on Sunday at the Air Force Academy.

The Rebels fell to 12-8 overall and 1-1 in Mountain West Conference play while the Lobos won their seventh straight to improve to 15-2 and 2-0

UNM started strong by winning all three doubles matches for one team point.

In singles, UNLV got victories from its two freshmen: Mehdi Bouras upset No. 123 Graeme Kassautizki at the second spot, 6-4, 6-4, and Attila Toth downed Phil Anderson 7-6, 7-5 on court five. Johnny Parkes won the battle at the top of the lineup, 6-3, 7-6 over Elliot Wronski and the Lobos also pulled out the day's only three-set match when Miles Bugby rallied past Wesley Burrows at No. 2, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 after facing match point.

"This was a frustrating one because we let a couple of matches slip away from us, but hats off to New Mexico," said UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook. "We hope to learn from this loss and we look forward to heading to Utah this week."

UNLV heads to Salt Lake City for three more league matches, including taking on Utah Thursday.

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#34 NEW MEXICO 5, #65 UNLV 2AFA Indoor Tennis Courts, Colorado Springs
Singles1. Johnny Parkes (UNM) def. Elliot Wronski (UNLV) 6-3, 7-62.  Mehdi Bouras (UNLV) def. #123 Graeme Kassautzki (UNM) 6-4, 6-43. Miles Bugby (UNM) def. Wesley Burrows (UNLV) 3-6, 7-6, 6-34. Ben Dunbar (UNM) def. Luca Barlocchi (UNLV) 6-3, 7-55. Attila Toth (UNLV) def. Phil Anderson (UNM) 7-6, 7-56. Carl Ho (UNM) def. Nikolaj Wulff (UNLV) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles1. Parkes/Bugby (UNM) def. #75 Wronski/Barlocchi (UNLV) 8-52. Kassautzki/Wood (UNM) def. Toth/Wulff (UNLV) 8-43. Chang/Dunbar (UNM) def. Burrows/Bouras (UNLV) 8-5