Saturday, 03/17/2012

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -

The University of Nevada men’s tennis team suffered a close 4-3 loss to Hawai`i Monday afternoon.

The loss dropped Nevada to 5-7 (0-2 WAC), while Hawai`i improved to 2-6 (1-0 WAC).

“"We had four out of six singles matches go three tough sets and came up short, pulling out one of them.” head coach Erik Burton said. 

Freshman Fernando Sunago defeated Charlie Rice in dramatic fashion with a 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 finish. The 4-3 loss to Hawai`i was a vast improvement to the 6-1 Nevada defeat at the hands of the Rainbow Warriors last season. 

“I was pleased to see the team improve over last year’s meeting with Hawai`i. It shows that our program is continuing to make great strides in being competitive against our opponents.”

Nevada will have the remainder of the week off before traveling to Boise, Idaho to face UAB next Tuesday afternoon.

"We need to gain more composure with our mental game and continue to improve our physical conditioning to get back in the win column during our next trip."


Match Results

Hawai`i 4 - Nevada 3

Doubles: Order of Finish: 3,2,1
1)Kovalyov/Brooklyn(Hawaii)  def  Derbel/Sunago(Nevada)  8-5
2)Ouvrard/Mege(Nevada)  def  Lam/Rice(Hawaii)  8-2
3)Reix/Chargui(Nevada)  def  Okamoto/Meyer(Hawaii)  8-3


Singles: Order of Finish: 1,5,6,2,3,4
1)Derbel(Nevada)  def  Okamoto(Hawaii)  6-4,6-2
2)Brooklyn(Hawaii)  def  Ouvrard(Nevada)  6-1,1-6,6-3
3)Kovalyov(Hawaii)  def  Chargui(Nevada)  5-7,7-5,6-4
4)Sunago(Nevada)  def  Rice(Hawaii)  4-6,7-6,7-6
5)Spiker(Hawaii)  def  Mege(Nevada)  6-3,6-4
6)Lam(Hawaii)  def  Rozenfeld(Nevada)  6-0,2-6,6-3