PALO ALTO, Calif.—The Gonzaga University men's tennis team traveled to the ITA Northwest Regionals to experience tough outside competition, and the Bulldogs certainly saw tough matches during day one of the tournament Friday at Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif.
Alvaro Nazal advanced to the Round of 32 on day one, picking up a couple of wins along the way. He reached the Round of 64 by beating Jonathan Pike of Portland State 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. He then faced a tough match Friday afternoon while squaring off against Stanford's Yale Goldberg, but the Chile native hung tough. He lost the first set 4-6, but battled to win a second set via a tiebreak 7-6(2). Nazal then took a 3-1 lead in the third and final set before Goldberg retired due to injury.
Nick Kamisar played a couple of tough singles matches Friday as well, winning one but falling in the second. The senior opened his day with a three-set victory over Adam Levie of UC Davis. Kamisar won the first set 6-4, but Levie took the second in an extra game at 5-7. He then prevailed in the deciding third set 6-4 to advance. In his second-round contest, Kamisar took on Portland's Miguel Diaz, winning the first set 4-6. Both players played well for the next two sets with Diaz prevailing in both for a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory.
Vicente Varas also tallied a win in the main draw, beating Eastern Washington's Rendell Burghart 6-3, 6-2. The win propelled him into the Round of 64, where he met the top seed in the entire draw, Andre Goransson of Cal. Goransson took the second round matchup 6-0, 6-2, sending Varas into consolation play.
Three Zags fell in the first round of the singles draw. Vladimir Mijatovic fell to Stuart Tierney, but not before threatening to force a third set with strong play in the second. Still, however Mijatovic fell in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(5). In the second half of the singles draw, Sergio Chip won four games in a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Oregon's Blake Anthony, and Joey Brandt fell 6-2, 6-2 to Alex Hunt of Saint Mary's.
In doubles play, Nazal and Kamisar, continued their theme of playing tight matches with a close 8-7 win. They fell behind 4-7 to Sacramento State's Sean Kolar and Deric Wanland but fought off seven match points for an 8-7 come-from-behind victory.
"Nick and Alvaro got their money's worth today," noted Gonzaga men's tennis head coach Peter MacDonald.
Chip and Varas took on UC Davis' Tommy Lam and James Wade in the first round, falling 8-2 to the pair of Aggies. Brandt and Mijatovic also suffered defeat in the first round, winning six games against Fresh State's Youssef Hassan and Eric Komati before losing the match 8-6.
The Zags are right back at it Saturday, Oct. 18, for day two of the Northwest Regionals. The first Bulldogs will compete at 9:00 a.m. when Nazal and Kamsiar continue their doubles bracket campaign, again at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
