ORLANDO, Fla. –  Wichita State’s top doubles tandem of Murkel Dellien and Marius Frosa won their first two matches to advance to the quarterfinal round and earn All-America status at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships at the USTA National Campus.
 
Dellien and Frosa won a straight-set decision against a tandem from Oklahoma in their opening match and followed with a super-tiebreaker win against Princeton’s top duo in the round of 32. The Wichita State tandem’s run ended Thursday in the quarterfinals, however, as Alabama’s Patrick Kaukovalta and Mazen Osama won a 6-3 ,7-6 decision.
 
Dellien and Frosa comprised one of two doubles tandems from The American in the 32-team bracket. UCF’s duo of Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel took the nation’s top-seeded duo from Baylor to a third-set tiebreaker, but fell 4-6, 7-6, (11-9) in their NCAA debut.
 
The NCAA singles bracket saw Tulane’s Ewan Moore win his first-round match as he battled back from a one-set deficit to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 against Northern Arizona’s Tim Handel. Moore fell to Aleksander Kovacevic of Illinois in the second round to end his run.
 
Tulsa’s Majed Kilani, USF’s Alberto Barroso-Campos and UCF’s Gabriel Decamps all fell in their first round matches.
 
 
 
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
American Athletic Conference Pairings
USTA National Campus | Orlando, Fla.
 
SINGLES
Round of 64 | May 20
Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. Majed Kilani (Tulsa), 6-2, 6-3
Joseph Guillin (UC Santa Barbara) def. Gabriel Decamps (UCF), 3-6, 7-6, 2-0 (ret.)
Benjamin Sigouin (North Carolina) def. Alberto Barroso-Campos (USF), 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Ewan Moore (Tulane) def. Tim Handel (Northern Arizona), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
 
Round of 32 | May 21
Aleksander Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Moore (Tulane), 6-3, 7-5
 
 
DOUBLES
Round of 32 | May 21
No. 1 Jimmy Bendeck/Sven Lah (Baylor) def. Trey Hilderbrand/Bogdan Pavel (UCF), 4-6, 7-6, (11-9)
Murkel Dellian/Marius Frosa (Wichita State) def. Alexander Bakshi/Stefano Tsorotiotis (Oklahoma), 6-1, 6-4
 
Round of 16 | May 22
Dellien/Frosa (Wichita State) def. Payton Holden/Ryan Seggerman (Princeton), 4-6, 6-3, (11-9)
                                                                         
Quarterfinals | May 23
Patrick Kaukovalta/Mazen Osama (Alabama) def. Dellien/Frosa (Wichita State), 6-3, 7-6