MTEN's Season Ends in WCC Quarterfinals
4/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif.—The ninth-seeded Gonzaga University men's tennis team wrapped up its most successful season in at least 15 years Thursday, ending the year with a 4-0 loss in the quarterfinals of the WCC Championships. The tournament's top-seed and #22 San Diego eliminated the Bulldogs from the tournament at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
The match began with doubles play, which the Toreros won with the first two matches that finished. The senior duo of Sergio Chip and Joey Brandt took three games off Ciaran Fitzgerald and Geoff Fosso before losing 8-3 at No. 3 doubles, and Hayden Smith and Vladimir Mijatovic won four games against the 45th ranked duo in the nation, Jordan Angus and Filip Vittek. That Zag pair lost 8-4 at the top of the doubles lineup.
On court two, fellow seniors Alvaro Nazal and Nick Kamisar kept within striking distance of Romain Kalaydjian and Uros Petronijevic and were down 4-6 when that match was halted. Nazal and Kamisar earned All-WCC Honorable Mention for their doubles play over the year.
In singles play, Connor Arend completed his first career dual match, getting the nod to face Fitzgerald at No. 6 singles. Arend took a game in each set before falling to the Torero 6-1, 6-1. The freshman made his dual debut April 22 in the opening round matchup against Santa Clara but did not finish that match.
Nazal rounded out his sterling Gonzaga career atop the singles lineup, where he played at in 60 of his 61 dual singles matches. In his final contest, Nazal dropped the first set to Petronijevic, the 52nd ranked singles player in the nation, 6-0 but battled back in the second set, losing by just a break at 6-4. The Santiago, Chile, native ended his career with over 75 singles victories and was named First Team All-WCC in singles play for the second time.
The regular-season champion Toreros clinched the match on court three, where Smith put up a fight in his second set against Angus. Smith lost the first set 6-1, but took Angus to an extra game before falling 7-5 in the second. His 14 dual singles victories in 2015 were the most on the team.
On court two, Kamisar held a set lead on the 77th-ranked player in the nation, Vittek. Kamisar won the first set 6-4 but trailed in the second set when that match was halted. Kamisar beat Vittek when the two teams played April 11 in Spokane. The Sammamish, Wash., native also earned All-WCC Honorable Mention in singles play this season.
Two more seniors saw their final matches halted and left unfinished. On court No. 4, Mijatovic battled against Kalaydjian in the first set but dropped the frame 4-6. The Bulldog led the second set 3-2, however, when that match was abandoned. Mijatovic improved his win total all four years at GU, reaching 50 career singles wins in the opening round April 22. On the next court over, Chip also was down a set, losing his first frame 3-6 to Fosso. In the second set, he was just one game behind the Torero at 2-3 when the match was halted. Chip ended his one-year career at GU with 17 singles wins and a winning record individually.
With the loss, the Zags finished at 11-11, their first season at .500 or better since at least 2000. Their three WCC victories was a program first, and the win over Santa Clara in the opening round of the WCC Championships was the Bulldogs' first ever opening round win as well.
Five seniors - Brandt, Chip, Kamisar, Mijatovic, and Nazal - will graduate in May.
