Utah Falls to Air Force in First Round of Conference

Utes Will Face UNLV Friday at 5 p.m.

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April 24, 2003

PROVO, Utah - - In the first match of the MWC Men's Tennis Championship, fifth-seeded Utah fell to fourth-seeded Air Force 4-3.

Utah fell behind early, 1-0, after dropping two of the three doubles matches. While the Falcons were up 3-1 at one point in the match, the Utes came back strong in singles to tie things up at 3-3, with Tyler Poulson, Tomasz Grzyb, and Nick Coutts winning at the three, four, and five singles positions, respectively. The match came down to the No. 2 singles position, with Roeland Brateanu of Utah and Erik Pittman of Air Force extending the match to three sets, with Pittman pulling ahead with a decisive 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Utah will play the UNLV Rebels on Friday at 5 p.m. The Utes defeated UNLV 5-2 on April 4 in Salt Lake City

Air Force - 4; Utah - 3

Singles

1. Shannon Buck (AFA) def. Daniel Lohff (Utah) 6-1, 6-0

2. Erik Pittman (AFA) def. Roeland Brateanu (Utah) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

3. Tyler Poulson (Utah) def. Tyler McClung (AFA) 6-4, 6-4

4. Thomas Gryzb (Utah) def. Justin Mancinelli (AFA) 6-1, 6-2

5. Nick Coutts (Utah) def. Trevor Johnson (AFA) 7-5, 6-0

6. Chris Dong (AFA) def. Kaisorn Chaichana (AFA) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles

1. Pittman/McClung (AFA) def. Brateanu/Coutts (Utah) 8-4

2. Poulson/Gryzb (Utah) vs. Dong/Martin Black (AFA) 6-7, DNF

3. Buck/Tyler West (AFA) def. Lohff/Mike Bullard (Utah) 8-6