TCU Captures MWC Men's Tennis Championship

Frogs upset Aztecs, 4-1, in finals

April 29, 2006

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - No. 2 seed TCU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and held on to defeat No. 1 seed San Diego State, 4-1, to capture the 2006 Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championship at Barnes Tennis Center. The defending tournament champion Aztecs had their 14-match win streak vs. MWC opponents stopped today vs. TCU. The Frogs are the first No. 2 seed since New Mexico in 2000 to win the men's MWC Tournament title. The top seed had won the last three championships.

The Frogs won the doubles point to start the match and took singles victories at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. TCU's Kriegler Brink and Jacopo Tezza improved to 16-5 at doubles this season with a win over SDSU's Robert Sabo and Christian Groh at the No. 3 position (8-5). Andrei Mlendea and Cosmin Cotet upended Stephan Timu and Anthony Gomez at No. 2 doubles (8-3) to secure the point for TCU.

The Frogs took the first two singles points as well with Tezza's two-set win over Stephan Timu (6-4, 6-3) at the No. 4 position and Radu Barbu's victory over Gomez at No. 5 singles (6-4, 6-3). SDSU's Benedikt Stronk took a three-set victory from Cotet at No. 3 singles (1-6, 6-1, 6-2) to account for the Aztecs' team scoring. TCU's win avenges a regular-season loss to the Aztecs, 4-3, on April 16 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

MWC TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
April 26-29, 2006  *  Barnes Tennis Center  *  San Diego, Calif.

Men's Results - April 29
Championship - No. 2 TCU def. No. 1 San Diego State, 4-1
Doubles 
1. Benedikt Stronk/Markus Dickhardt (SDSU) vs. Rafael Abreu/Jordan Freitas (TCU)     7-6 (DNF)
2. Andrei Mlendea/Cosmin Cotet (TCU) def. Stephan Timu/Anthony Gomez (SDSU)            8-3
3. Kriegler Brink/Jacopo Tezza (TCU) def. Christian Groh/Robert Sabo (SDSU)            8-5

Singles
1. Andrei Mlendea (TCU) vs. Christian Groh (SDSU)            6-4, 4-3 (DNF)
2. Markus Dickhardt (SDSU) vs. Rafael Abreu (TCU)            5-7, 5-3 (DNF)
3. Benedikt Stronk (SDSU) def. Cosmin Cotet (TCU)            1-6, 6-1, 6-2
4. Jacopo Tezza (TCU) def. Stephan Timu (SDSU)               6-4, 6-3
5. Radu Barbu (TCU) def. Anthony Gomez (SDSU)                6-4, 6-3
6. Jordan Freitas (TCU) def. Robert Sabo (SDSU)              1-6, 6-1, 6-3