Nazal Tabbed WCC Player of the Month After Impressive Debut
10/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Gonzaga University men's tennis freshman Alvaro Nazal earned his first West Coast Conference Singles Player of the Month for September, the conference announced Thursday.
The Santiago, Chile, native won five straight singles matches to clinch the Eastern Washington University Fall Classic Singles Flight A title in his collegiate debut Sept. 23-25. He earned his first singles win 6-1, 7-5 over Erik Sheldon of Boise State University in the opening-round and on the second day of the tournament, Nazal upset the bracket's second seed Abid Akbar of the University of Idaho 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (11) in the round of 16.
Following a 6-1, 6-3 win over Eastern Washington's Chad Henninger in the quarterfinal round, Nazal earned back-to-back wins over two fellow Bulldogs to win the title. He defeated junior Levin Guillermo, who was the bracket's fourth seed, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (5) in the semifinals and senior Scott Sullivan 6-1, 6-1 in the final round.
The Bulldogs return to action this weekend as they travel to Boise, Idaho, for the Boise State University Fall Classic. The tournament starts Friday at 7:30 a.m. PT.
