Box Score TULSA, Okla. – University of Denver men's tennis player and senior Daniel Sancho Arbizu grabbed a win over No. 17-ranked JC Roddick from Texas A&M before ending his run in consolation quarterfinals at the ITA All-American Championships on Saturday.
 
No. 94-ranked Sancho Arbizu started the penultimate day of the tournament with a 4-6 6-4 6-4 victory against the No. 17-ranked player in the consolation round of 16. The Denver senior's three-match win streak against top-40 players ended in the consolation quarters with a 6-1 6-1 loss to No. 15 Jay Friend from Arizona.
 
In total, Sancho Arbizu earned wins against three top singles players from Power-4 programs in Duke, Texas A&M and USC to begin his fall campaign.
 
To his first match of the day, Sancho Arbizu dropped serve in the opening game but earned a break back for 2-2 to set the stage for a close first set against A&M's Roddick. The only other break chance in the set went Roddick's way for a 5-4 lead and the chance to serve it out.
 
The second set remained on serve through the first seven games with both players holding with relative ease. Sancho Arbizu converted the first break point of the set to take a 5-3 lead but was broken back in the following game. The Zaragoza, Spain, native made it three straight breaks between the two players, though, and turned a 0-40 lead on Roddick's serve into a 6-4 second-set win.
 
Both players had their serves broken to begin the third set before Sancho Arbizu broke again in the fourth game and consolidated for a 4-1 lead. The player from A&M leveled things at 4-4, but Sancho Arbizu put some scoreboard pressure on with a hold for 5-4. Roddick's service game went back and forth until Sancho Arbizu claimed a match point up 30-40 and converted to seal the win.
 
Sancho Arbizu's tournament ended with a straight-sets loss to Arizona's No. 15-ranked Friend. He went down a break to begin the first set and conceded another break late, but had two looks at break points that narrowly went against him. The second set followed a similar pattern with Sancho Arbizu giving up a break in his first service game before finding a hold for 1-3. Friend claimed another break late on a deuce point and was able to serve out the match.
 
Sancho Arbizu came up just two wins shy of an automatic berth into the NCAA National Championships but will still have additional chances to qualify this fall, starting with the Pioneers' next tournament: the ITA Mountain Regional Championships on October 17-22 in Las Vegas.
 
Elsewhere in Denver men's tennis on Saturday, five Pioneers continue play at the Bedford Cup in the Mountains, hosted by the Air Force Academy, with singles semifinals and doubles quarterfinals and semifinals on the schedule.
 
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