Freshman Leads Bears to "Exsted-ic" Victory

Saturday, January 20

Greeley, CO

2:00pm

University of Northern Colorado

Colorado State University - Pueblo

1/20/2018 6:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Bears Led 3-0 and Held on for 4-3 Win in Spring Opener

By: By: Charlie Snelson, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. –The Bears prevailed in a non-conference men's tennis match against Colorado State, Pueblo 4-3 at Work Out West Fitness Center in Greeley on Saturday afternoon. Northern Colorado swept doubles play after Cassell King and Connor Finerty rallied from 5-2 down to win their set in a tiebreak. In singles, the Bears received individual wins from Kyle Pease, Nick Wade, and freshman Alex Exsted.

UNC held a 3-0 lead in the team score but securing the clinching point became more difficult as Connor Finerty narrowly lost a three-set match at No. 1 singles. Instead, it would be up to one of two freshmen to come through for UNC. Alex Exsted proved up to the task. He held off a late charge in the second set by the Thunderwolves Steven Alcala but held on to win under pressure.

Doubles:

(UNC) Finerty/King def. (CSUP) Pudney/Mould 7-6(8) [55 min.]
(UNC) Wade/Kritzinger def. (CSUP) Ryan/Deniz 6-4 [42 min.]
(UNC) Pease/Smalley def. (CSUP) Boedeker/S. Alcala 6-4 [37 min.]

Singles:

(CSUP) Thomas Pudney def. (UNC) Connor Finerty 6-3, 0-6,6-4 [1 hr. 52 min.]
(UNC) Kyle Pease def. (CSUP) Ogulcan Deniz 6-3 6-1 [58 min.]
(CSUP) James Ryan def. (UNC) Michael Kritzinger 6-3, 6-0 [1 hr. 2 min.]
(UNC) Nick Wade def. Cade Boedeker (CSUP) 6-1, 6-4 [1 hr. 5 min.]
(CSUP) Rafeal Abreu 6-4, 6-2 def. (UNC) Ryan Hardin [1 hr. 5 min.]
(UNC) Alex Exsted def. (CSUP) Steven Alcala 6-1, 6-4 [1 hr., 15 min.]

Order of finish: (3, 2, 1), (2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5) Time of the match: 3 hrs. 33 min.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles
The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches remained close throughout, but Kyle Pease earned UNC a chance to close leading 5-4 and they capitalized for the win at No. 3 with teammate Tommy Smalley. Shortly after, No. 2 finished in favor of UNC after Michael Kritzinger was successfully able to serve out the set leading 5-4 with doubles partner Nick Wade.

In the No. 1 match, Cassell King and Connor Finerty trailed 5-2 but were able to get a break to get back on serve. Finerty served successfully at 6-5 to force a tiebreaker for the set. In the tiebreaker, both teams had match points but Cassell King won the final point on his serve for the Bears victory.

Singles
At No. 1, Connor Finerty fell in the first set but quickly rebounded to take a 6-0 second. Both players raised their level of play as the match rolled on, but Thomas Putney controlled more points in the latter portion of the third set, breaking Finerty at 3-3 and holding on for 6-4.

Playing No. 2 for the second year in a row, Kyle Pease deployed his usual baseline play style of big swinging forehands and solid serving to take care of Ogulcan Deniz in straight sets.

Michael Kritzinger had his hands full with the tall right-hander, James Ryan. He was never able to find a lead and dropped the match in straight sets.

Good serving and a consistent one-handed backhand were enough for Nick Wade against Cade Boedeker. He won his No. 4 singles match after a much more tightly contested second set.

No. 6 Alex Exsted grabbed the first set easily and had a sizable lead in the second. Exsted held off a late charge to win the match 6-4. His win sealed the Bears first team win of the spring season.

No. 5 Ryan Hardin was unable to find a lead in his match and fell in straight sets.
What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado is scheduled to compete against Air Force and Incarnate Word next weekend, but plans may change due to the government shutdown canceling all Air Force Athletics events. Stay tuned to UNCBears.com for information about the status of the matches.