CHENEY, Wash. -- Eastern Washington University men's tennis is off to a hot start with another win in the Big Sky conference with a 7-0 victory over North Dakota on Feb. 24. With this win, the Eagles improve to 3-0 in the Big Sky and 5-3 overall.
"It was good to see the guys come away with a 7-0 win over an improved UND squad," head coach Steve Clark said. "Other conference opponents have not taken down this squad down by that score."
In the No. 1 singles spot, senior Robert Dula defended his spot with a dominate 6-0, 6-2 win over Dustin Britton. Dula now improves to a 2-1 in the Big Sky standings in singles action.
Junior Victor Pereira defeated Alex Mailes 6-3 in both of his sets in the No. 2 singles spot. Junior Scott Paz defeated Travis Lau 6-3, 6-4 in the third singles spot.
"Rob got the terminator award in singles and doubles with Victor," Clark said. "It was great to see Victor win the way he should play."
Junior Flavien Raveau improves to a perfect 3-0 in the Big Sky conference with a 6-2. 7-5 win over Ty Misialek. He remains undefeated in singles and doubles in the Big Sky.
In the No. 5 singles spot, Ricardo Almeida had a back-and-forth battle with his opponent, Simon Danyluk. The junior won his first set 6-0 but lost his second set 5-7. For the third set, the athletes competed in a 10-point tiebreaker. Almedia eventually won the match by a 13-11 margin. He also improves to become undefeated in both singles and doubles action in the Big Sky.
Junior Vuk Vuckovic finished off singles action with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over his opponent Eshan Varma.
In doubles, the Eagles seemed to dominate across the board. Dula and Pereira started off the competition with a 6-1 victory in the No. 1 doubles. Paz and Raveau won 6-3 in the No. 2 spot while Almeida and senior Wacil Bendjelti won 6-0.
"Our focus has been on perfect effort from start to finish and while we won, we still need to get that done, with how we let down some leads," Clark said. "But, overall I am very happy with the guys, the energy of the team and the fight."
Eastern will continue competition next Saturday, March 4 against San Diego Christian at 10 a.m. The Eagles will also play Spokane Community Colleges the same day at 3 p.m. Both matches will be held in Cheney at the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse.
Eastern Washington 7, North Dakota 0
Singles
1. DULA, Robert (EWU) def. Britton, Dustin (UND) 6-0, 6-2
2. PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) def. Mailes, Alex (UND) 6-3, 6-3
3. PAZ, Scott (EWU) def. Lau, Travis (UND) 6-3, 6-4
4. RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) def. Misialek, Ty (UND) 6-2, 7-5
5. ALMEIDA, Ricardo (EWU) def. Danyluk, Simon (UND) 6-0, 5-7, 13-11
6. VUCKOVIC, Vuk (EWU) def. Varma, Eshan (UND) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
1. DULA, Robert/PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) def. Britton, Dustin/Lau, Travis (UND) 6-1
2. PAZ, Scott/RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) def. Danyluk, Simon/Misialek, Ty (UND) 6-3
3. ALMEIDA, Ricardo/BENDJELTI, Wacil (EWU) def. Hokanson, Matt/Mailes, Alex (UND) 6-0
