The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Minnesota
No. 3 Men's Tennis blanks Minnesota, 4-0, advances to NCAA round of 16
05.15.2010 | Men's Tennis
May 15, 2010
| Results
- 2010 NCAA Men's Tennis Team Interactive bracket
AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 3 Texas (27-2) took the doubles point and notched singles wins from Dimitar Kutrovsky, Vasko Mladenov and Kellen Damico in a 4-0 win over Minnesota Saturday afternoon in the round of 32 at the NCAA Championships.
The Longhorns advance to the NCAA round of 16 for a fifth consecutive season. Texas will take on unseeded Oklahoma on Friday, May 21 in Athens, Ga. First serve is set for 6 p.m. Eastern at Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Oklahoma reached the round of 16 by upsetting 14th-seeded Texas Tech by a 4-2 count Saturday in Norman, Okla.
At second doubles, UT's Ed Corrie and Damico broke for a 2-1 lead over the Gophers' Dino Bilankov and Sebastian Gallego. The Texas tandem held and broke for a 4-1 lead and went on to an 8-3 victory. Minnesota's Rok Bonin and Phillip Arndt posted an 8-3 win at third doubles over UT's Jean Andersen and Mladenov, but Texas would put away the doubles point at the first slot. Texas' Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala broke for a 3-2 lead over Tobias Wernet and Julian Dehn. The duo held and broke for a 5-2 lead before finishing off the Gophers by an 8-4 count.
At first singles, Minnesota's Gallego broke UT's Kutrovsky to even the match at four, but Kutrovsky broke for a 5-4 lead and held in the next game to take the first set 6-4. Kutrovsky relinquished nothing in the second set and won going away, 6-0 to give Texas a 2-0 lead.
At sixth singles, UT's Mladenov broke Minnesota's Brendan Ruddock for a 2-1 lead and raced out to a 6-1 opening-set win. Ruddock broke Mladenov's serve for a 2-1 lead in the second set, but Mladenov broke and held for a 3-2 lead. Mladenov held serve for a 4-3 lead before breaking Ruddock for a 5-3 lead. Ruddock saved multiple match points in the ensuing game, but Mladenov converted the point he needed in the end, as he emerged with a 6-3 second-set win to give UT a 3-0 lead.
Tied at four at third singles against Minnesota's Rok Bonin, UT's Damico held for a 5-4 lead and broke Bonin in the following game to take the first set, 6-4. A tight second set progressed into a tiebreaker, where Damico prevailed, 7-2 to clinch the victory for the Horns.
2010 NCAA Tennis Championships - Round of 32
#3 Texas 4, Minnesota 0
Penick-Allison Tennis Center - Austin, Texas
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 #6 Dimitar Kutrovsky/Josh Zavala (UT) def. Tobias Wernet/Julian Dehn (UM) - 8-4
2 #40 Ed Corrie/Kellen Damico (UT) def. Dino Bilankov/Sebastian Gallego (UM) - 8-3
3 Rok Bonin/Phillip Arndt (UM) def. Jean Andersen/Vasko Mladenov (UT) - 8-3
Singles - Order of Finish: 1, 6, 3
1 #10 Dimitar Kutrovsky def. #68 Sebastian Gallego (UM) - 6-4, 6-0
2 #20 Ed Corrie (UT) vs. #114 Tobias Wernet (UM) - 7-5, 3-5, susp.
3 #99 Kellen Damico (UT) def. Rok Bonin (UM) - 6-4, 7-6 (2)
4 Jean Andersen (UT) vs. Phillip Arndt (UM) - 4-6, 6-1, 3-3, susp.
5 #95 Josh Zavala (UT) vs. Dino Bilankov (UM) - 5-7, 6-2, susp.
6 Vasko Mladenov (UT) def. Brendan Ruddock (UM) - 6-1, 6-3
Records: Texas 27-2; Minnesota 14-11
Match Notes: Texas advances to the NCAA round of 16 for a fifth consecutive season ... the Longhorns will meet either 14th-seeded Texas Tech or Oklahoma in the NCAA round of 16 on Friday, May 21 at 5 p.m. Central in Athens, Ga.
Time of Match: 3:03
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On advancing to the NCAA round of 16: I think our guys expected to be in Athens, Ga., (for the NCAA round of 16). I thought we played hard, though I don't know if we played as well as we could have played. I thought we played a little rusty coming out of our final exams, and we had not played for a couple of weeks before yesterday. But, Minnesota did a good job and put some pressure on us. I felt we improved as the match went on. We got through our first matches of the tournament, and now it's time to take the next step.
On playing a conference opponent in the NCAA round of 16: We can't focus on that. It's a little disappointing and unusual that six of the eight round-of-16 matches could be between conference opponents. But, that's the draw, and we will keep playing. The bottom line is if we want to be standing on the last day, we will need to keep getting better.
