ORLANDO – Wichita State men's tennis duo Murkel Dellien and Marius Frosa's historic run at the NCAA Doubles Championships came to an end Thursday in the quarterfinals.
 
Frosa and Dellien took on Patrick Kaukovalta and Mazen Osama of Alabama in what was a fight until the end. Kaukovalta and Osama broke the Shocker pair in the first game of the first set to take an early 1-0 lead, and never looked back, taking the first set 6-3.
 
The second set was a hard-fought battle between the No. 11-ranked Alabama squad and the Shockers, who rank No. 35. The two teams traded games early and often, with both team holding serve to force a deciding tiebreaker. Frosa and Dellien, who finish the season with an 11-2 record, gained early momentum as they jumped out to a commanding 5-1 lead. Kaukovalta and Osama battled back to take six-straight points and the set, 7-6 (5).
 
The Shocker duo achieved many feats during their run at the Championships, including becoming just the second pair to earn All-America honors after reaching the quarterfinals for the second time in school history. Dellien and Frosa started out second on the doubles alternate list, and ended up as All-Americans for the Shockers.
 

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NCAA Doubles Championships Recap / USTA National Campus / Orlando, Fla.
 
May 21, 2019 - Round of 32
#35 Dellien/Frosa (WSU) def. #25 Bakshi/Tsorotiotis (OU), 6-1, 6-4
 
The Shocker tandem raced out to a commanding 3-0 after an early break in the first set, and collected three of the next four games to take the first set in dominant fashion, 6-1. WSU led 2-1 after an early break in the second set and never looked back, winning 6-4 to move to the Round of 16.
 
May 22, 2019 - Round of 16
#35 Dellien/Frosa (WSU) def. #34 Seggerman/Holden (PU), 4-6, 6-3, 11-9
Tied at three in the first set, Seggerman and Holden grabbed a break to go up 4-3 and finished with a 6-3 first set win. Frosa and Dellien bounced back in the second set, jumping to a 3-0 lead over the Tiger duo. Leading 5-1, Seggerman and Holden won two-straight games to cut the lead to 5-3 before the duo served it out for the set. After leading 4-1, Seggerman and Holden watched their lead slip away as Frosa and Dellien came back to tie it a four. The two went back and forth in the match tiebreaker before the Shockers collected an 11-9 win to move on to the Elite 8 for the second time in WSU history.