UCLA Earns First NCAA Tennis Title in 21 Years

UCLA completed its surprising run Tuesday night at the NCAA men’s tennis tournament by winning its first title in 21 years.

The Bruins ended Baylor’s 57-match win streak with a 4-3 victory at College Station, Texas.

The top-seeded Bears (33-1) had built a 3-1 lead, but the seventh-seeded Bruins (27-3) stormed back in the third sets of the last three matches.

Victories by Benjamin Kohlloeffel, Alberto Francis and Philipp Gruendler in singles tied the match, and Kris Kwinta won it with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Lars Poerschke.

“I just tried to focus on what I had to do,” Kwinta said. “I couldn’t think about winning or the ring or the championship or how many years it’s been without a championship. It’s not good to do in tennis.

“You have to fight and play out the moment, and that’s what I did.”

It is the 16th men’s tennis title for UCLA, which lost to Baylor in last year’s final.

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USC freshman Lindsey Nelson advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sarah Foster of Kentucky at the women’s NCAA championships at Athens, Ga.

College Football

Oklahoma State safety Vernon Grant, 22, was killed in a car accident Monday night in Dallas. Grant died after his car was broadsided while he attempted to cross traffic onto an interstate ramp, said Senior Cpl. Donna Hernandez, a Dallas police spokeswoman.

Grant, a three-year starter, had 67 tackles, two interceptions, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries last season.

The Mountain West Conference reprimanded Colorado State Coach Sonny Lubick for comments he made in reaction to the conference’s decision to change the date of the Rams’ game against Air Force from Oct. 1 to Sept. 29 to accommodate ESPN’s national broadcast schedule.

The Rams have a game the previous Saturday, but Air Force will not have played since the previous Thursday, giving the Falcons two more days to prepare.

“If you follow college football, you know that this is unfair,” Lubick told the Coloradoan newspaper in Fort Collins last week. “It just doesn’t seem like this is right.

“I don’t think any other league would do this to two of its teams.”

Troubled Tennessee receiver James Banks, suspended from the team in December, lost an appeal for reinstatement.

Pro Football

Kicker Paul Edinger, cut by Chicago this month, agreed to terms on a one-year contract with Minnesota, which is seeking a replacement for Morten Andersen.

Tennessee tight end Ben Troupe, who has a foot injury, is expected to sit out the rest of off-season workouts but should be ready for the start of the season.

Safety Cory Hall signed with Washington after two seasons with Atlanta.

Hall made 60 tackles in 14 games for Atlanta in 2004. He was released on March 2.

Arizona signed receiver Charles Lee, who played for Tampa Bay the past three seasons, to a one-year contract.

Jurisprudence

The trial date for former Brigham Young players B.J. Mathis, Ibrahim Rashada and Karland Bennett, who are charged with sexual assault, has been pushed back to Aug. 24.

Miscellany

Representatives from the National Hockey League and NHL Players’ Assn. will renew negotiations to end the eight-month lockout in Chicago today and Thursday.

The small group meetings probably will focus on team finances. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and union chief Bob Goodenow will not participate in the discussions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., with only five top-10 finishes in 11 NASCAR races, replaced his crew chief in an attempt to turn his team around. Steve Hmiel, the technical director at Dale Earnhardt Inc., will replace Pete Rondeau on an interim basis beginning with this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The Turin Olympics luge track will be modified for safety reasons and qualifying rules will be tightened if necessary, organizers said.

An International Luge Federation statement confirmed that the Olympic qualifying criteria “would be made more severe if necessary, and new regulations would be drawn up for admission to the qualifications and to training sessions.”

U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis will be available for next month’s World Cup qualifiers after surgery for appendicitis.

Juergen Jansen and Wieland Ziller were the latest referees to be charged with two counts of plotting to manipulate games and face lifetime bans for their parts in Germany’s match-fixing scandal.