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SPOKANE, Wash.-The Gonzaga University men's tennis team began the 2016 season on a strong note Wednesday night, taking down local foe Eastern Washington 6-1 at The Stevens Center in Spokane.

The Bulldogs began the match by taking the doubles point with a pair of doubles wins. Hayden Smith and Jordan Smith picked up where they left off in the fall, working together for a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles. The win was their sixth in eight matches on the season. At No 3 doubles, Vicente Varas and Ronzai Saurombe also took down their Eastern Washington opponents, winning by a similar 6-4 tally.

At No. 2 doubles, Emilio Moreno and Ruadhan O'Sullivan battled to a tiebreak with the Eagles' Wacil Bendjelti and Vuk Vuckovic, but the EWU tandem won in a tiebreak 6-5 (2).

The Zags won the match with the first three singles contests to finish. O'Sullivan began his Gonzaga career with a big win to lead the way, sweeping the first set against Eduardo Bringold and doubling up the Eagle in the second. The 6-0, 6-3 win on court No. 3 was O'Sullivan's first collegiate victory as he joined Gonzaga at the semester break. A minute later, fellow Aussie Jordan Smith put the Zags on the brink with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles. Smith leads the team with eight singles wins when considering tournament play in the fall.

On court No. 6, Moreno clinched the match as he finished off Luke Ness in two sets as well. The freshman doubled up Ness in the first and ceded just one game in the second for a 6-3, 6-1 win in his first career dual contest.

At No. 4 singles, Varas also got off to a start, sweeping Vuckovic in the first set 6-0. In the second set, the Eagle picked up a few games, but Varas, a senior, kept up the pressure to begin his final dual season with a victory. The Zags' final point of the match came on court five where Saurombe came from behind to beat Bendjelti. The Eagle won the first set, but Saurombe came from a 4-5 deficit in the second to force a tiebreak. He won that tiebreak to reach a third set super tiebreak, which he won again for a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (6) win.

The Eagles' lone point came on court where Robert Dula beat Hayden Smith in two sets.

"The guys came out and executed in doubles today," said Gonzaga head coach Peter MacDonald. "Getting that doubles point, especially for a lot of the new guys, takes a lot of pressure heading into singles. And in singles, four of the six guys took off early and everyone took confidence from it."

Gonzaga (1-0) now heads to Tucson, Ariz., for a pair of matches this weekend. They begin with a Saturday, Jan. 30 neutral-site affair with New Mexico State, and the brief trip wraps up with a showdown against No. 69 Arizona on Sunday, Jan. 31.