WEB UPDATE:

Fresno State tops tennis team

March 9, 2009 by Noam Amir-Brownstein 

The 72nd ranked UNLV men’s tennis team lost their third straight match to fall to 9-5 after starting the season 5-0. The Rebels were defeated by 40th-ranked Fresno State in a 5-2 match on Saturday.

UNLV lost the doubles point, 2-1, with the lone doubles’ victory of Elliot Wronski and Luca Barlocchi providing a bright spot. Wronski and Barlocchi upset the 47th-ranked team of Mirko Zapletal and Rudolf Siwy in a tiebreaker, 8-7.

“It was an extremely close match,” UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook said. “I thought we had an opportunity to win the doubles point, unfortunately we got broken at three and just couldn’t propel.”

Losing the doubles match put the Rebels in the hole going into singles, which they managed to play close. UNLV couldn’t overcome Fresno State and managed only two victories.

“I think the doubles point cost us that match,” Hambrook said. “It’s the type of team you have to win the doubles point against in order to win that match.”

The two victories in singles came by freshman Mehdi Bouras, who advanced to 12-2 on the season playing solo, at the No. 2 spot and by freshman Attila Toth at No. 5.

“We had a lot of opportunities on a lot of courts today but let them slip away,” Hambrook said. “We’ll learn from that and it will make us a better team in the long run.”

The Rebels play their final home game of the season on Thursday at 2 p.m. against Ball State. It will also be the team’s senior night, honoring Wronski and Wesley Burrows.