May 24, 2008

Final Stats

TULSA, Okla. - Baylor All-American Denes Lukacs saw his outstanding sophomore season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tennis Championships singles tournament Saturday at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Lukacs, ranked No. 9, lost to the tournament's top-seeded player, Somdev Devvarman of Virginia. Devvarman, now 42-1 on the season, halted Lukacs' 17-match win streak with a 6-0, 6-7(2), 6-3 triumph. It was the first match of the singles tournament that either player had been pushed to three sets.

After Devvarman breezed through the first set, both players held serve through 10 games of the second set. Each player traded breaks at that point to keep the score even at 6-6. Lukacs out-scored Devvarman 7-2 in the tiebreak to hand the Virginia senior his first set loss of the singles tournament. However, Devvarman countered with a 6-3 third set victory to earn a place in the semifinals.

Lukacs ends his highly successful sophomore season with a team-high 47-10 mark, which ranks as the second-best single season mark in program history behind Benedikt Dorsch's 49 wins in the 2002-03 season. In addition, Lukacs' career singles winning percentage of .806 (79-19), ranks No. 4 on Baylor's all-time list.

"It's always hard to lose and today was no different. Denes played well in spurts, but wasn't able to focus as consistently as his opponent. He improved tremendously this year and we know he has only scratched the surface of his potential. I can't wait to get back to work in August,"said head coach Matt Knoll.