Men's Tennis Wins Second Consecutive at Blue Gray Classic
3/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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| Javier Bes |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. ?? The Alabama men’s tennis team won its second straight match Saturday by defeating Colorado 4-3 in its final day of competition at the Blue Gray Tennis Classic.
Tide players won a pair of deciding matches, one in doubles and one in singles, to earn the victory including Javier Bes’ three-set win to clinch it for Alabama.
“This was the best all around effort that we’ve had this year,” Alabama head coach Billy Pate said.
Bes was the final match left on the court with the score knotted at 3-3. He was able to jump up two breaks over Bundalo and serve out the match to help lift the Tide to its sixth win of the season.
“After the loss Friday, we talked about coming out with more energy and being more vocal,” Pate said. “We did that last night and tonight and it sparked us in doubles and carried over into the way we played in singles.”
Alabama showed signs of life early in Saturday’s match. Dan Buikema and Andrew Felsenthal helped spark the team early when they cruised to an 8-3 win at No. 3. After Colorado pulled even with a win at No. 2, the doubles point was left up to Joseph Jung and Mathieu Thibaudeau. The duo jumped up a break late in the match, then, leading 7-6, was able to serve out for the win and Alabama carried a 1-0 lead into singles play.
Jung then came out and played extremely well in his singles match against Eric Molnar, winning 6-1, 6-1 and pushed Alabama to a 2-0 lead. Sammy Struyf earned a straight-set win at No. 5 singles as well that pushed the team to the verge of winning the match.
“Overall this was a good tournament for us,” Pate said. “We came down here with the goal of winning a least two matches and we were able to accomplish that. We rebounded well after Friday’s loss. Now we have to come back and prepare ourselves for Wednesday’s double-header and the remainder of SEC play.”
Alabama will look to extend its winning streak this Wednesday as it hosts Southern Miss and Birmingham-Southern. The first match will begin at noon with the second scheduled to be played at 5 p.m.
Alabama 4, Colorado 3
Singles
Joseph Jung (UA) d. Eric Molnar (CU), 6-1, 6-1
Javier Bes (UA) d. Marko Bundalo (CU), 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Peter Bjork (CU) d. Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA), 6-3, 6-3
Jan Zelezny (CU) d. Billy Mertz (UA), 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
Sammy Struyf (UA) d. Chad Tsuda (CU), 6-3, 7-6
Marek Dvorak (CU) d. Dan Buikema (UA), 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
Jung/Thibaudeau (UA) d. Molnar/Bundalo (CU), 8-6
Zelezny/Dvorak (CU) d. Mertz/Bes (UA), 8-5
Buikema/Felsenthal (UA) d. Bjork/Tsuda (CU), 8-3
