New MTEN Season Opens Friday
9/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Three of last year's Zags are back, including senior Hayden Smith, who led the team with a 14-7 record in dual matches last year. The Breakfast Point, Australia native also went 4-4 against West Coast Conference opponents and claimed one of Gonzaga's four points against BYU that helped the Zags to their first ever conference win over the Cougars. Smith only played in one fall tournament last season, reaching a bracket final at the PNW Intercollegiates last November. Along with doubles partner Vladimir Mijatovic, Smith had the team's best dual doubles record last year as well.
There's one more senior on the squad, and that's fellow returner Vicente Varas. Varas posted 12 singles wins last season and reached the final of both singles and doubles brackets at the PNW Intercollegiates. Also in the fall, he reached the doubles consolation final of the EWU Fall Classic, the first tournament of the season. During dual play, the Sammamish, Wash., native ripped off a stretch of three wins in a row, beating opponents from Creighton, Eastern Washington, and Lewis-Clark State.
GU's final returner is sophomore Connor Arend. Arend saw action at one tournament - the Zags' own Gonzaga Fall Tournament - during the fall, but he broke into the dual lineup during the West Coast Conference championships and was on the court for the Zags' first WCC Tournament win in six years. Although he went 0-3 throughout the season individually, he picked up a win during doubles play at the GU Fall Tournament.
To bolster the roster, head coach Peter MacDonald brought in three newcomers: one junior transfer and two freshmen. The junior is Ronzai Saurombe, who comes to Gonzaga from Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas. Saurombe found national success with the Saints, winning the 2013 ITA National Doubles Championship while picking up the ITA's Rookie of the Year in 2014 and Sophomore of the Year in 2015. He also helped lead Seward County to an NJCAA Regional Championship in 2015.
Like Saurombe, who hails from Mutare, Zimbabwe, the two freshmen are also international students. Emilio Moreno is from Mexicali, Mexico - although he attended the Advantage Tennis Academy in Irvine, Calif. - and Jordan Smith gives the Zags another Aussie as Jordan comes to Spokane from Sydney. Through his time with Advantage, Moreno has seen multiple successes in UTSA tournaments, and he's also advanced far during International Tennis Federation tournaments in Mexico as well. Smith, meanwhile, went undefeated during league competition in high school and twice represented New South Wales in the School Sport Australia National Championships.
All six Zags will be in competition at the EWU Fall Classic, Gonzaga's first tournament of the year. Singles play at the EWU Fall Classic will begin at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, in Cheney, Wash., while the first round of doubles matches will get underway at 4:00 p.m.
