Zags Take Two Brackets at EWU Fall Classic

Saturday, September 19

Cheney, Wash.

All Day

Gonzaga University

EWU Fall Classic Day 2

9/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

EWU Fall Classic Final Results

CHENEY, Wash.--The Gonzaga University men's tennis team came away with two bracket championships at the EWU Fall Classic Sunday as senior Vicente Varas won the black singles bracket while senior Hayden Smith and freshman Jordan Smith combined to take the doubles bracket of the Eastern Washington-hosted tournament.

Varas took the second singles bracket with a three set victory over EWU's Wacil Bendjelti Sunday. Bendjelti took the first set 4-6, but the Bulldog countered with a 6-4 set of his own in the second. In the third set super tiebreak, Varas outlasted his opponent by a score of 15-13 for the bracket victory. He reached the finals with a win over EWU's JJ Minakata in the quarterfinals on Sept. 19 and then advanced via walkover past teammate Connor Arend in the semis. Varas was the bracket's top seed while Bendjelti came into the tournament ranked second.

The team of Smith and Smith also won in three sets Sunday, coming from behind for the doubles championship with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 10-5 win over Idaho's Mark Kovacs and Jackson Varney. During Saturday's semifinals, they beat the Vandals' Odon Barta and Felipe Fonseca in straight sets to advance to the title match. Smith and Smith were seeded No. 2 in the doubles bracket with Kovacs and Varney earning the top seed.

In the red singles flight, top-ranked Robert Dula of Eastern Washington won with a three-set victory over Kovacs. Dula posted two wins over Bulldogs on Sept. 19 to reach the final, beating Jordan Smith in three sets during the quarterfinals and again needing three sets to beat Hayden Smith in the semifinals.

During Saturday's quarterfinal match, junior Ronzai Saurombe took Barta to three sets before getting eliminated from the main draw. Fellow newcomer Emilio Moreno also was in the red singles quarterfinal, but he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. That flight's drop-down bracket pitted Jordan Smith against Saurombe on Sunday, but that contest wasn't played since the two are teammates.

"Overall we had a solid weekend," said Gonzaga men's tennis head coach Peter MacDonald, "it was nice to get a couple of bracket wins under our belts. We definitely have some things to work on going into regionals in Seattle, but we have a great group of guys who are willing to work hard."

The Bulldogs will be back in action Oct. 22-25 at the ITA Northwest Regionals in Seattle. That tournament will be hosted by Washington and will take place at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.