DENVER (April 8) --- For the first time in his Denver career, head coach Rob Oertel's men's tennis team defeated the Air Force Academy, 5-2 at Stapleton Tennis Complex. It was the final match of the regular season for the Pioneers as they prepared for their first postseason conference competition since Denver made the move to NCAA Division I.
"Our 15-7 dual record exceeded all of our preseason goals," said Oertel. "It was also a program goal to beat Air Force by the fourth year of my career here at Denver. This win stopped a three-match losing streak that puts us back on course going into the conference tournament."
Denver won the first point of the competition by sweeping the doubles competition with a shuffled doubles lineup. Junior Boris Turkic (Samobor, Croatia) and sophomore Jay Patel (Ahmedabad, India) completed the sweep with a 9-7 win over the Falcons Tom DeAngelis and Nolan Cooper at No. 1.
In singles competition, the Pioneers picked up wins from No. 1 Tomasz Wawrzyniak (Inowroclaw, Poland), No. 2 Turkic, No. 4 Patel, and No. 5 Lachlan, Menzies (Perth, Australia). Wawrzyniak beat DeAngelis, 7-6 (4), 6-2 for the fifth Denver point.
Denver moves on to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, April 14-16, in Lafayette, La. Three men's tennis teams in the Sun Belt Conference are currently ranked in the top 75 in the nation - Louisiana-Lafayette (No. 26), South Alabama (No. 29) and Arkansas-Little Rock (No. 40). Two future SBC schools are also nationally ranked - Middle Tennessee State and New Mexico State.
Denver 5, Air Force 2 - April 8, 2000SinglesNo. 1 Tomasz Wawrzyniak (DEN) d. Tom DeAngelis (AFA) 7-6 (4), 6-2No. 2 Boris Turkic (DEN) d. Nolan Cooper (AFA) 6-4, 6-4No. 3 Kyle Rainey (AFA) d. Magnus Ramfelt (DEN) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4No. 4 Jay Patel (DEN) d. Eric Pittman (AFA) 6-1, 6-2No. 5 Lachlan Menzies (DEN) d. Doug Fike (AFA) 6-0, 6-4No. 6 Chris Zielinski (AFA) d. Trevor Young (DEN) 7-5, 6-1DoublesNo. 1 Turkic/Patel (DEN) d. DeAngelis/Cooper (AFA) 9-7No. 2 Wawrzyniak/Menzies (DEN) d. C. Zielinski/Greg Zielinski (AFA) 8-6No. 3 Ramfelt/Young (DEN) d. Pittman/Fike (AFA) 8-5
