DENVER - The University of Denver men's tennis team closed out its 2000-01 season with a seventh-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, hosted by the University of South Alabama. Denver opened the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Middle Tennessee State yesterday (Apr. 20). Following a 4-1 loss to New Mexico State today (Apr. 21), the Pioneers rebounded to close the season with a 5-0 win over Western Kentucky to earn seventh place.

In the first match against New Mexico State, the Aggies took three singles matches and two more on the doubles court to earn four points and seal the win. The only Pioneer victory came on the singles court as senior Boris Turkic (Samboor, Croatia) earned a straight-set win over NMSU's Cesar Obieta at No. 1. Turkic raised his record to 22-10 and the match marked the second time this season he managed to topple Obieta.

In the second match, against Western Kentucky, Denver (10-11) won two matches on the doubles court to earn the match's first point. Denver's tandem of juniors Magnus Ramfelt (Bromma, Sweden) and Jay Patel (Ahemedabad, India) won the first match, 8-1 on the second doubles court. That was followed by an 8-2 victory by Denver's No. 3 pair of senior Mike Ceilley (W. Des Moines, Iowa) and junior Lachlan Menzies (Perth, Australia), who defeated WKU's tandem of JJ Ball and Anders Singdahlson to clinch the point.

At singles, Denver earned victories on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth courts to sweep the match. The Pioneers' No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, Turkic and senior Tomasz Wawrzyniak (Inowroclaw, Poland), respectively, did not finish their matches because Denver had already accumulated enough points to earn the win. All four Denver singles matches came in straight-sets as Menzies, Ceilley, Patel and Ramfelt all posted victories. Ramfelt's win improved his record to 20-10 on the season.

Match 1 Results (vs. New Mexico State)

Singles
Boris Turkic (DEN) def. Cesar Obieta, 6-1, 7-6
Marc Legris (NMSU) def. Tomasz Wawrzyniak, 6-0, 6-4
Magnus Ramfelt (DEN) dnf Alvaro Dominguez
Jay Patel (DEN) dnf Ben Newcombe
Ludo Barthe (NMSU) def. Trevor Young, 6-4, 7-6
Dan Even (NMSU) def. Mike Ceilley, 6-3, 6-4

Doubles
Legris/Newcombe (NMSU) def. Turkic/Wawrzyniak, 8-6
Ramfelt/Young (DEN) dnf Obieta/Dominguez
Barthe/Aurelien Monmarson (NMSU) def. Ceilley/Patel, 8-2

Match 2 Results (vs. Western Kentucky)

Singles
Boris Turkic (DEN) dnf Michael Lindskog
Tomasz Wawrzyniak (DEN) dnf Evalds Jurans
Magnus Ramfelt (DEN) def. Martins Jaunzems, 6-4, 6-2
Jay Patel (DEN) def. Wimal Wijenanyake, 6-1, 6-1
Mike Ceilley (DEN) def. JJ Ball, 6-1, 6-2
Lachlan Menzies (DEN) def. Anders Singdahlson, 6-1, 6-1

Doubles
Turkic/Wawrzyniak (DEN) dnf Lindskog/Jurans
Ramfelt/Patel (DEN) def. Jaunzems/Wiljenayake, 8-1
Ceilley/Menzies (DEN) def. Ball/Singdahlson, 8-2