CHENEY, Wash. -- The Eastern Washington University's men's tennis team fell to Air Force by a slim margin of 4-3 today (March 11). With this loss, the Eagles went 1-1 on the weekend after defeating Radford yesterday by a score of 4-3. EWU is now 8-4 overall and still remain undefeated in the Big Sky Conference at 3-0. 

"Losing is part of development and I hope the guys learn from this going forward in similar level matches in conference," head coach Steve Clark said. "It is one thing to lose because an opponent raises the level, but when you drop yours and let them climb back, that is a stinger. So we need to learn from it and quick."

Junior Victor Pereira started off the singles with a victory in the No. 1 spot against Max Olson. The junior lost his first set by a score of 6-1, but came back and won the next two sets by close scores of 7-5.

The next Eagle to win was junior Flavien Raveau in the No. 3 spot. He won in two sets by scores of 6-4, 6-3 over Luke Sanderson. The one other Eastern athlete to win was junior Vuk Vuckovic in the No. 6 singles spot. Vuckovic fought a hard battle with another three set victory over Tadhg Collins. In the first set, the junior won by a dominate 6-1. In the second set,he lost by a tiebreaker deciding the set by a close score of 7-5, after a 7-6 set. In the third set, he came out strong and won 6-2.

Junior Scott Paz competed in the No. 2 singles spot and lost in three sets against Lucas Fumagali. Paz lost the first set 6-4, but came back and won the second set by the same score, 6-4. In the third set, Paz ended up falling 6-2.

Junior Ricardo Almeida fell in the No. 4 spot to Isaac Perez by scores of 6-1, 6-2. The other loss came from the No. 5 spot where senior Wacil Bendjelti lost in another close match. In the first set, he lost 7-5 but came back and won 6-2 in the second set. In the final set, he eventually lost by a close 6-4.

In doubles, one EWU team  was able to claim a victory. Almeida and Bendjelti teamed up in the No. 3 spot and won 6-3. In the No. 1 spot, Vuckovic and Pereira lost 6-3. Closing off doubles was Paz and Raveau, who lost in a close match by a score of 7-5.

"We managed to give some matches away to lose 3-4, when if we had won the matches that we led in, we would have won 6-1," Clark said. "That is a tough one. Despite not having Rob in the lineup, we had the doubles point on our side, but for some reason we chose not to go after a ball or two and it can cost us. We lost the doubles point which we do not often do. We battled and won in three matches but managed to give leads up by conservative play."

Eastern's next competition is on March 17 against Weber State. This will be EWU's first Big Sky competition since playing North Dakota on Feb. 24.


Air Force 4, Eastern Washington 3

Singles competition
1. PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) def. Olson, Max (AFA) 1-6, 7-5, 7-5
2. Fumagalli, Lucas (AFA) def. PAZ, Scott (EWU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
3. RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) def. Sanderson, Luke (AFA) 6-4, 6-3
4. Perez, Isaac (AFA) def. ALMEIDA, Ricardo (EWU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Galvin, Mack (AFA) def. BENDJELTI, Wacil (EWU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
6. VUCKOVIC, Vuk (EWU) def. Collins, Tadhg (AFA) 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2

Doubles competition
1. Perez, Isaac/Collins, Tadhg (AFA) def. VUCKOVIC, Vuk/PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) 6-3
2. Olson, Max/Sanderson, Luke (AFA) def. PAZ, Scott/RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) 7-5
3. ALMEIDA, Ricardo/BENDJELTI, Wacil (EWU) def. Fumagalli, Lucas/Ghering, Matthew (AFA) 6-3