Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Netters Fall To UCLA in First Round, 4-2
February 17, 2005 | Cowboy Tennis
The Cowboys fell behind early, as the 40th-ranked doubles team of Boris Kuharic and Felipe Diaz lost 8-4 to No. 6 Alberto Francis and Kris Kwinta at the No. 2 position.
The Cowboys tied the doubles score at 1-1 as Mark Van Elden and Daniel Byrnes defeated Ben Kohlloeffel and Luben Pampoulov at the No. 1 spot, 8-5. Tomas Bohunicky and Artie Burmistrau provided the clinching the doubles point, coming back from a 7-3 deficit to win 9-7 at the No. 3 position and give the team a 1-0 match lead.
“It was huge for us to win the doubles point,” head coach James Wadley said. “UCLA is a very good doubles team.”
UCLA pulled ahead early in singles play, winning at the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 positions to take a 3-1 lead.
At No. 1 singles, senior Mark Van Elden fell behind early to 14th-ranked Luben Pampoulov, but battled back to take the final two sets and win 7-6, 6-4, 6-4, and cut the UCLA lead to 3-2.
The Bruins sealed the match at No. 2 singles, but not before Tomas Bohunicky gave No. 8 Ben Kohlloeffel all he could handle. After losing the first set 6-1, Bohunicky took the second set 7-6 and took the third set into a tiebreaker before losing by a final of 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (3).
At No. 6 singles, sophomore Daniel Byrnes was one point away from defeating Jeremy Drean when the match ended.
“Daniel's elbow was hurting him, and he played great to be one point from winning his match,” Wadley went on to say. “All the guys played really well, and it's tough to lose such a close match to a very good team.”
The Cowboys will play No. 7 Stanford tomorrow at noon.
Doubles
No. 1 - Van Elden/Byrnes (OSU) def. Kohlloeffel/Pampoulov (UCLA); 8-5
No. 2 - No. 6 Francis/Kwinta (UCLA)def. No. 40 Kuharic/Diaz (OSU); 8-4
No. 3 - Bohunicky/Burmistrau (OSU) def. Dehaine/Gruendler (UCLA); 9-7
Singles
No. 1 - No. 44 Mark Van Elden (OSU) def. No. 14 Luben Pampoulov (UCLA); 6-7, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 - No. 8 Ben Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. No. 115 Tomas Bohunicky (OSU); 6-1, 6-7, 7-6
No. 3 - No. 62 Chris Lam (UCLA) def. Boris Kuharic (OSU); 6-3, 7-6 (12-10)
No. 4 - No. 39 Alberto Francis (UCLA) def. Artie Burmistrau (OSU); 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 - No. 99 Kris Kwinta (UCLA) def. Felipe Diaz (OSU); 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 - Daniel Byrnes (OSU) led Jeremy Dean (UCLA); 6-4, 5-7, 5-3 (DNF)
