Nevada Men’s Tennis improved to 4-1 on the season following two wins in Spokane, defeating Montana State, 4-0, and Gonzaga, 4-3.
February 1 - Nevada 4, Montana State 0
The Wolf Pack took care of business at the top of the lineup against Montana State, winning the doubles point and earning victories from flights one, two, and three.
The Pack’s top doubles pair, Lucas Hammond and Rayen Hermassi, took care of Hermassi’s former squad, defeating Harrison Janes and Dmitry Bezborodov, 6-2. Axel Huysmans made his collegiate dual debut in his doubles victory with Greg Valente, defeating Alex Vlahos and Andre Stewart, 6-1, on court three.
Nevada quickly added onto its lead, earning victories from Youssef Kadiri, Hammond, and Paul Théate. Kadiri, ranked No, 121 by the ITA, won his top-flight match, 6-3, 6-2, over Bezborodov.
Hammond picked up his second victory of the day, defeating Stewart, 6-3, 6-3. Théate, playing on court three, eased past Eddie Biss in the first set before picking up a key break to win, 6-1, 6-4. Nevada held leads or were tied on all three abandoned courts.
February 2 – Nevada 4, Gonzaga 3
On day two, Nevada battled back, dropping the doubles point. Gus Krauel and Oscar Rashed opened the doubles session defeating Valente and Huysmans, 6-3.
Kadiri and Rémy Trégourès tied doubles play with their 6-3 win over Kai-Luca Ampaw and Diego Herrera. However, Giovanni Branchetti and Jay Fairclough defeated Hammond and Hermassi, 6-3, taking the early advantage.
Max Contet, coming off a Mountain West Freshman of the Week honor, tied the dual with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 victory against Krauel. Kadiri gave Nevada a 2-1 lead after a back-and-forth match against Théate’s former teammate, Branchetti. Kadiri broke Branchetti’s serve to win the match, 6-4, 6-4. Ampaw tied the dual again with a strong, 6-3, 6-2 victory against Hammond on court two.
On court three, Fairclough forced a tiebreaker against Théate and held multiple two-point leads over Nevada’s graduate student. Théate battled back against Fairclough, breaking him multiple times before holding serve to take a 7-6 lead, and breaking Fairclough once more to win the match, 6-3, 7-6 (6). Gonzaga tied the dual at 3-3 with Rashed’s 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Trégourès.
Hermassi clinched the dual for Nevada with a strong third set against Herrera, winning his fifth-flight match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Nevada, now 4-1, make a quick trip to the Bay Area with a single match against Saint Mary’s on February 15 at 1:00 p.m.
Nevada Athletics contributed to this post.
