DENVER – The University of Denver men's tennis team fell in another tight match, falling 4-3 to Air Force on Friday.
 
Doubles:
Air Force claimed the doubles point with matching 6-4 wins on Courts 1 and 2. In No. 1 doubles, Denver's team of junior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta and sophomore Daniel Sancho Arbizu saved two match points when serving at 3-5 but lost on the third match point they faced in AFA's next service game.
 
Redshirt senior Anish Sriniketh and junior Charlie Miller were on serve in No. 2 doubles until they dropped serve at 5-4 to give the match and the doubles point to Air Force.
 
Freshman Raffaello Papajcik made his collegiate debut in teaming up with junior Peter Sallay in No. 3 doubles. The match went unfinished, ending at 5-all.
 
Singles:
Denver got on the board with a dominant performance from Sancho Arbizu in No. 2 singles, dropping just three games total.
 
Graduate student Conner Olsen evened up the team scores at 2-2 with his straight-sets win on Court 4. In both sets, he used a break midway through and held for the remainder of the set.
 
Sallay put Denver up 3-2 in No. 3 singles, also winning in straight sets. He traded breaks with Air Force's Justin Waldman before breaking in the 10^th game of the first set to win 6-4. With Waldman serving for the second set, Sallay broke back and forced a tiebreak. After the players traded minibreaks at the start, the tiebreak remained on serve until Sallay took it 8-6.
 
Herrero Cuesta split the first two sets and had a 3-0 third-set lead in No. 1 singles. After allowing two breaks to give AFA's Nick Vroman a 5-4 lead and a chance to serve for the match, the Denver junior broke back at 30-40 to force another tiebreak for DU. He warded off three match points but ultimately lost 7-3.
 
The match came down to No. 6 singles between DU's Miller and AFA's Jack Brown. Miller claimed the first set before giving up a late break in the second set to end up in a deciding third set. Brown broke during Miller's first service game before adding a second break to go up 5-2 and served it out to give the win to Air Force.
 
Up Next:
DU's match against Montana State that was originally scheduled for Sunday, February 5, at Denver Tennis Park is canceled after MSU was unable to field a complete lineup.

Denver will next travel to Wichita State on Sunday, February 12, at 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT.
 
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