Oct. 23, 2007
AUSTIN, Texas - Sophomores Denes Lukacs and Attila Bucko were both victorious on Tuesday in the finals of their respective brackets in the ITA South Central Regional Championships at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center on the University of Texas at Austin campus.
Lukacs, ranked No. 78, claimed his second straight tournament championship when he downed 37th-ranked Conor Pollock of Texas A&M, 6-4, 6-4 in the finals. In his six victories en route to the championship, the Eger, Hungary, native won all his matches in straight sets. He has now lengthened his win streak to 10 matches, has won 14 of his last 15 contests and is 16-2 during fall play. The win streak started on Oct. 13 in the Charles Fluitt Invitational where he posted four straight victories to claim the tournament title.
By winning the ITA South Central Regional Tournament, Lukacs has earned a berth into the November 1-4 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships hosted by The Ohio State University at the Racquet Club of Columbus.
"Denes qualified for the National Indoor Championships which was a goal of his for the fall. He's excited about going to Ohio State and playing some of the best players in the country," said head coach Matt Knoll.
Bucko, who hails from Wellington, Fla., won two matches on Tuesday to claim the championship of the consolation bracket. After suffering a first-round loss, the 6-5 lefty, reeled off six straight consolation wins, all in straight sets. On Tuesday he posted a semifinal win over Dmitry Novikov of Texas A&M-CC (6-3, 7-5) and downed Texas A&M's Matt Bain 7-6, 6-3 in the finals.
"Attila got a lot out of playing this tournament. He was able to bounce back from a first round loss and win six matches without losing a set. He seems to have really turned the corner," said Knoll.
In doubles action, Lukacs and David Galic fell in the semifinals to eventual champion Luis Diaz Barriga and Kellen Damico of Texas, 8-3.
"Generally it was a great tournament for us. Our guys played a lot of matches and a lot of guys did some good things. Everyone played good tennis, those that lost, lost to good players in three sets. We competed well and I thing it is a good sign of what we can look forward to in the spring," added Knoll.
