Men's tennis swept by Air Force in first match

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. —The Northern Colorado men's tennis team fought boldly against the Air Force Academy in the first match of their 2012 spring season, but fell short 7-0 to the Falcons.

The number one doubles team of Brandon Lupo and Ben Gendron were victorious 8-6 over Lance Wilhelm and Grant Taylor. Air Force won the other two doubles matches 8-6 and 8-2 and number two and three, respectively.

"We came out and played hard," said Head Coach Tim Bearman. "Lupo and Gendron had a nice win at 1 doubles. We had our opportunities at number two but we were not able to capitalize on some key points."

Five of the  six singles players fell in straight sets, however, sophomore Michael Moya battled three sets. He dropped the first set 6-3 before bouncing back to win the second, 6-4. Joey Brandt won the tiebreaker 11-9.

"In singles, as a team we gave away free point after free point and it's impossible to win matches that way," said Bearman. "Bottom line, we got in our own way today and it's frustrating. At the same time, it's the first match of the season and there's a lot of room for improvement. We will have a couple weeks of productive practice before our trip to Washington."

The Bears will return to the court at Eastern Washington on February 3.