PALO ALTO, Calif. – Junior Eric Molnar won his first round NCAA Tournament singles match with a straight-set victory Wednesday afternoon at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship Tournament at Stanford University.

Molnar defeated No. 71 ranked Brandon Wai of Yale, 6-3, 6-1 advancing to the Round of 32 to play top ranked and No. 1 seed Benjamin Kohlloeffel of UCLA on Thursday.

Molnar won his 26th match of the year tying teammate Marek Dvorak for second on the team in victories.

The 2006 All-Big 12 singles and doubles selection from Guelph, Ontario, Canada also moved into a third place tie with Dvorak and former CU great Bill Brawer (1975-76) for most match wins in a season.

Currently the No. 51st ranked singles player, Molnar is the first CU men’s player since Marc Bauer advanced to the NCAA Round of 32 in 1996.

“Eric played great tennis today,” said CU head coach Sam Winterbotham. “He impressed everybody by the way he was willing to come out and take the opportunity. If he plays like he did today, he has a great chance on Thursday. It was great again to see CU advance in the NCAA Tournament.”

The Buffaloes ended the team portion of their season two weeks ago with a 20-9 record and a NCAA Tournament second round appearance.