Men's tennis season down to final NCAA doubles draw

By Ben Miller

May 26, 2005, 12:00 AM

Alex Vlaski saw his tennis career at the UW come to an end earlier than expected yesterday as he was upset in the first round of play in the NCAA Singles Championships in College Station, Texas. Both Husky participants in the singles draw fell yesterday, as Alex Slovic also lost in the first round. In his match, eighth-seeded Vlaski went up 5-1 early in the first set, but No. 49 Greg Ouellette of Florida rallied to win the set 7-5. Now down one set to love, Vlaski responded by sweeping the second set 6-0. "Alex (Vlaski) squandered some chances in the first set," coach Matt Anger said of his senior. "He just kind of slowed down a little bit with his play and the other guy was able to claw his way back into that set." In the third and final set, Vlaski experienced some cramping and ended up falling 6-2, effectively ending the match, his season and his Washington career. "He seemed to have some momentum going, and in the second game of the third set, Alex started cramping," Anger said. "It was affecting him the whole third set and he wasn't able to put enough together to win. In his four-year career, it is the only time that he has lost in a tournament of any size in the first round." With his career now over, Vlaski will go into the record books as the winningnest Husky of all time with 111 wins, the highest ranked Husky all time achieving the No. 2 ranking in 2004 and the only Husky to receive multiple All-American honors. "I think one of the reasons why Alex (Vlaski) does so well is that the college matches mean so much more to him, and I think he puts so much importance on these." Anger said. "He's disappointed about today, but I think it's more that his career is over. He now can turn his full attention to finishing up school and getting started on the pro tour." While Vlaski's loss was considered an upset, it was just the other way around for Slovic. He came into the tournament ranked 44th and was matched up against No. 4 Catalin Gard from Mississippi, who was widely considered among the favorites to win the event. An upset was not in the cards for Slovic though as he fell to Gard 6-4, 6-2. "[He] played pretty well certainly for the first set, and he had some break chances early in the first," Slovic said. "Gard was able to wear him down in the second, he was just a little too good." Slovic still has at least one day left for his season, as he and Daniel Chu will face the 29th-ranked duo of Luiz Carvalho and Jose-Carlos Pinto in the first round of the doubles draw.

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