April 27, 2007

USAFA, Colo. - No. 5 seed BYU knocked off No. 1 San Diego State, 4-3, to advance to the MWC Men's Tennis Championship finals which will be held at the Air Force Academy Saturday at 1 p.m MT. The Cougars will face No. 4 UNLV, who upset No. 2 TCU, 4-0, in Friday's semifinals.

No. 5 BYU 4, No. 1 San Diego State 3
Quarterfinals - 2007 MWC Men's Tennis Championships
Friday, April 27, 2007 @ Air Force Academy

For the second consecutive day, BYU's James Ludlow rallied from a one-set deficit to win the deciding match and propel the fifth-seeded Cougars to a 4-3 upset victory over top-seeded San Diego State in the semifinals of the 2007 Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championships at the Air Force Academy. BYU improved its record to 14-13 and will face UNLV in the finals on Saturday, April 27 at 2 p.m. San Diego State, ranked 47th in the country, fell to 16-8.

Ludlow, who defeated New Mexico's Max Jones at the No. 1 position on Thursday in three sets to clinch the 4-3 win over the Lobos in the quarterfinals, dropped the first set, 6-0, to 38th-ranked Markus Dickhardt at the top spot on Friday. But Ludlow persisted and took the final two sets, 6-2, 6-3, to break a 3-all deadlock and send the Cougars to the championship match.

The Aztecs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after Achim Ceban and Bill Timu won the No. 2 doubles match in a tiebreaker, 8-6, over BYU's Chip Hand and Jonathan Sanchez to clinch the point. BYU won the No. 1 doubles match as Ludlow and Dominik Kaufhold downed Dickhardt and Christian Groh, 8-3. SDSU's No. 3 team of Anthony Gomez and Robert Sabo defeated Cassidy Mears and Cale Planck, 8-5.

Kaufhold tied the match at 1-all with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at the No. 3 spot over SDSU's Anthony Gomez, but Anthony's teammate, Juan Gomez, gave the Aztecs a 2-1 lead with by defeating Cassidy Mears, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 5.

Hand evened the match for BYU by downing Groh, 6-3, 6-4, and Sanchez gave BYU its first lead at 3-2 with a three-set victory at No. 4 singles over Ceban, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Sabo won the No. 6 match in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2, over Planck, to tie the match at 3-all and set up the dramatic finish at No. 1 singles.

Singles
1. James Ludlow (BYU) def. Markus Dickhardt, 0-6, 6-2, 6-3
2. Chip Hand (BYU) def. Christian Groh, 6-3, 6-4
3. Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) def. Anthony Gomez, 6-4, 6-3
4. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) def. Achim Ceban, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
5. Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Cassidy Mears, 6-4, 6-3
6. Robert Sabo (SDSU) def. Cale Planck, 7-6(5), 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 5, 2, 4, 6, 1

Doubles
1. Ludlow/Kaufhold (BYU) vs. Dickhardt/Groh, 8-3
2. Ceban/Bill Timu (SDSU) def. Hand/Sanchez (BYU), 9-8(6)
3. A. Gomez/Sabo (SDSU) def. Mears/Planck, 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

No. 3 UNLV 4, No. 2 TCU 0
Semifinals - 2007 MWC Men's Tennis Championships
Friday, April 27, 2007 @ Air Force Academy

The UNLV Rebels posted their second consecutive shut out Friday and advanced to the finals of the 2007 Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championships with a 4-0 victory over TCU at the Air Force Academy. UNLV, seeded No. 3 at the tournament, improved to 12-13 and will face the No. 5 seed BYU in the championship match on Saturday, April 28 at 2 p.m. With the loss, the second-seeded Horned Frogs fell to 10-12.

The Rebels took an early 1-0 lead with victories at the Nos. 2 and 3 doubles matches. The No. 2 match came off the court first as Jonathan Hooper and Wesley Burrows defeated Radu Barbu and Chris Biro, 8-4. TCU claimed the No. 1 match as Cosmin Cotet and Kriegler Brink downed Elliott Wronski and Brett Hunter, 8-5, setting up the deciding match at No. 3. UNLV's Slavko Bijelica and David Campbell won that No. 3 match in thrilling fashion, 9-8, over Andrew Ulrich and Caleb Bulls. The UNLV duo won the tiebreaker, 7-2.

UNLV used that momentum to win three singles matches and claim the team victory. Luca Barlocchi made it 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Stuart Row, followed by Campbell, who won the No. 5 match over Ulrich, 6-3, 6-3. Burrows clinched the match for the Rebels at the No. 3 position with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Barbu.

The No. 1 match between UNLV's Wronski and Cotet was halted with Wronski leading 4-3 in the third set, while the Nos. 2 and 4 matches were stopped in the second set.

Singles
1. Elliott Wronski (UNLV) vs. Cosmin Cotet, 6-3, 1-6, 4-3 (DNF)
2. Slavko Bijelica (UNLV) vs. Chris Biro, 6-1, 6-7 (4) (DNF)
3. Wesley Burrows (UNLV) def. Radu Barbu, 7-6(5), 6-3
4. Brett Hunter (UNLV) vs. Kriegler Brink, 7-6(3), 2-4 (DNF)
5. David Campbell (UNLV) def. Andrew Ulrich, 6-3, 6-3
6. Luca Barlocchi (UNLV) def. Stuart Row, 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 5, 3

Doubles
1. Cotet/Brink (TCU) def. Wronski/Hunter, 8-5
2. Hooper/Burrows (UNLV) def. Barbu/Biro, 8-4
3. Bijelica/Campbell (UNLV) vs. Ulrich/Caleb Bulls, 9-8 (2)
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3