GRAND FORKS – The University of North Dakota men’s tennis team dropped a 5-0 decision to Denver on Sunday afternoon from Choice Health and Fitness in Grand Forks, N.D. 

The match, which was scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m., was set to begin before a discrepancy was noticed with one of the canister of balls and caused a multi-hour delay. Over two hours later, the teams reevaluated the weather, agreed on balls and moved outdoors to begin the first outdoor match at North Dakota in over a decade. 

With the defeat, North Dakota will be the No. 2 seed at the upcoming Summit League Men’s Tennis Championships in Denver, Colo. and will play No. 3 seed Omaha in the semifinals on Friday afternoon. Match times will be released by the league later today. 

Despite moving outdoors, doubles featured back-and-forth play and plenty of intensity, as both teams looked to gain the crucial 1-0 advantage. DU notched the first win of the day on the No. 3 court before rallying from a 2-0 deficit from the middle position to clinch the 1-0 lead with a 6-4 victory. 

Denver took control in singles play, grabbing wins on the No. 3, 5, 1 and 6 courts to clinch the overall match victory by a 5-0 score. A pair of singles bouts went unfinished, as Ange-Kevin Koua was a game away from forcing a third set from the No. 2 spot while Andrew Hayduke II cruised to a 6-1 triumph in the second stanza of his match to force a third set on the No. 4 court. 

North Dakota will open the postseason on Friday against Omaha from Denver.