April 30, 2010

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - The 67th-ranked UNLV men's tennis team, seeded sixth, was eliminated by second-seeded and 55th-ranked San Diego State 4-0 in Friday's semifinal round of the Mountain West Conference Championship being held at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

The Rebels ended their season with a record of 13-12 while the Aztecs improved to 13-12 and will now play TCU in Saturday's final, which is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Playing on a cool but sunny morning, the Aztecs jumped to a 1-0 lead by prevailing in an intense doubles session. SDSU took the final three games to win 9-7 on court two before Rebels Mehdi Bouras and Luca Barlocchi evened things by combining to upset 87th-ranked Achim Vladimirschii and Giovanni Vaglietti on court one, 8-6. All eyes then moved to the No. 3 position where the Aztec duo of Tim Schulz van Endert and Andre Feliz won a tiebreaker 7-2 to defeat Attila Toth and Kasper Konyves 9-8 and clinch the key team point.

SDSU took that momentum and never looked back in singles play, quickly winning the three needed points to end the match as only Toth won a first set for the Rebels.

Barlocchi, playing his final collegiate match, was the first to fall, 6-2, 6-1, to Vladimirschii at the No. 2 position. Konyves lost on court six to Feliz 6-1, 6-2 and then it ended when Bouras was defeated by Juan Gomez, 6-3, 6-3, at the top of the lineup.

"The doubles point was extremely close," said head coach Owen Habmrook. "We had opportunities to win it at three but it didn't happen. We battled in singles but San Diego State was just too good today.

"We are going to miss Luca Barlocchi for many reasons. Not only was he a great tennis player but he is also an outstanding student and gave so much to this program. We had three freshmen starting at times this season so we were the youngest team in the league. We had a lot of close losses that hopefully will go the other way next season as we gain experience. We certinaly have a good base to build on for next season."

2010 MWC MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP#55 San Diego State (2) 4, #67 UNLV (6) 0April 30, 2010, at Las Vegas(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
Singles competition1. Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Mehdi Bouras (UNLV) 6-3, 6-32. Achim Vladimirschii (SDSU) def. Luca Barlocchi (UNLV) 6-2, 6-13. Giovanni Vaglietti (SDSU) vs. Attila Toth (UNLV) 2-6, 3-2, unfinished4. Luis Rattenhuber (SDSU) vs. Johannes Markel (UNLV) 6-3, 5-2, unfinished5. Tim Schulz van Endert (SDSU) vs. Bernard Schoeman (UNLV) 7-6, 0-1, unfinished6. Andre Feliz (SDSU) def. Kasper Konyves (UNLV) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition1. Bouras/Barlocchi (UNLV) def. #87 Vladimirschii/Vaglietti (SDSU) 8-62. Gomez/Rattenhuber (SDSU) def. Markel/Schoeman (UNLV) 9-73. Feliz/Schulz van Endert (SDSU) def. Konyves/Toth (UNLV) 9-8 (7-2)