Box Score 1 GREELEY, Colo. (Feb. 20, 2019) - The Colorado State University-Pueblo men's tennis team was left winless in their doubleheader trip in Greeley Saturday.
The ThunderWolves (0-5) began their first match in the morning against an in-form Division I program, University of Northern Colorado. They lost 6-1 with Richard Garcia (Fr., Surrey, UK) picking up his first singles win this spring season.
In the afternoon, the Pack came out to battle again against another strong Division I program, Southern Utah University. The encounter with the Thunderbirds left the Pack with a 7-0 defeat.
Recap versus Northern Colorado
A tough start to the day began when Ogulcan Deniz (Sr., Istanbul, Turkey) had to forfeit his partnership at the No. 3 doubles position with James Ryan (Sr., Rustington, Sussex, UK) after he took a ball to the face in the warm up in preparation for the match. A last minute doubles change meant Pueblo native, Dante Alcala (Sr., Pueblo, Colo.) was reunited with his 2017-18 partner in Ryan. But, it was a clean sweep at doubles positions, two and three, resulting in the Bears taking the doubles point. 1-0.
Going into singles, the ThunderWolves struggled to gather any momentum. The top five singles headed out to play and couldn't gather a win. The lone win come from an excellent performance from Garcia at the No. 6 singles position, winning 7-5, 7-6 (5) against Michael Kritzinger. The day's play ended with the Bears taking the victory, 6-1 against the ThunderWolves.
Recap versus Southern Utah
The ThunderWolves resumed their final match of the doubleheader against the Thunderbirds. A positive start for the Pack when Cade Boedeker (So., Fort Worth, Texas) and Daniel Garcia (Jr., Riverside, Calif.) came out firing to a 4-1 lead. Some bad luck against them on some crucial sudden death points lead to them losing their lead and the match, 6-4. R. Garcia and Edward Cooper (Fr., Bolton, UK) lost by a single break of serve resulting in the in-form Thunderbirds taking the doubles point, 1-0.
Singles play resumed and there was a sense of hard luck for the ThunderWolves as the crucial doubles point could have gone either way. D. Garcia came close at the No. 1 position losing narrowly in a three-set encounter against Salavdor Mijares 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Cooper and Agustin Tamagone were trading holds of serves but the Englishman couldn't find a break losing, 7-5, 6-3. The Pack couldn't find a win in the other singles positions, losing 7-0 against the Thunderbirds.
Words from Richard Garcia
"I believe the matches went alright last weekend, there were a few quite close matches, including our No. 1 going to three sets.
It felt amazing winning my first match for the Pack on the weekend, especially as it was a very close match at 7-5, 7-6 against a good Division 1 school. I hope it's the first of many for the Pack."
Next Up
The ThunderWolves will head to the University of Texas-Permian Basin Feb. 22-23 for four matches in Midland, Texas.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
