Gonzaga University
Montana State
Zags Take Down Montana State 6-1
3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SPOKANE, Wash.--The Gonzaga University men's tennis team returned from a five-match road trip Friday evening, and the home cooking did the Bulldogs good as they pushed past Montana State 6-1 at The Stevens Center.
The Zags won five singles matches during the match, all in two sets. Freshman Jordan Smith led the way with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory over Harry James at No. 3 singles. The win is the first sweep by a Bulldog in the dual season, and Smith himself posted the team's only sweep during tournament play in the fall.
Up on court one, Ruadhan O'Sullivan saw his first match at No. 1 singles, dispatching Alexander Flink 6-0, 6-2. O'Sullivan leads the team with 10 dual wins. He entered the day second in the West Coast Conference's for dual singles victories by a freshman. On court No. 2, Hayden Smith also picked up a dominant win, taking 12 of his match's 15 games. The 6-2, 6-1 win clinched the dual match for the Bulldogs and was Smith's biggest of the dual season as well.
The Bulldogs added two more wins on the night as both Vicente Varas and Ronzai Saurombe tasted victory in singles play. Varas took down Dylan Harvala in two sets, winning the first 6-2 and the second by a break at 6-4. The senior from Sammamish, Wash., competed at No. 5 singles. On court six, Ronzai Saurombe posted his first win since returning from injury, beating Mateus Ceolin handily in the first and prevailing in a prolonged second set for the 6-1, 7-5 tally.
To begin the match, the Zags took the doubles point by winning both pairs contests that finished. At No. 1 doubles, GU's Smith and Smith beat Montana State's Flink and James 6-1 for their 11th win of the year. At No. 2 singles, O'Sullivan and Emilio Moreno doubled up the Bobcats' Bates and Ceolin 6-3, clinching the initial point for Gonzaga. O'Sullivan and Moreno have four doubles wins on the year.
The No. 3 doubles match between Varas and Saurombe and Harvala and Sitar was halted upon GU's clinching of the doubles point.
With the home win, Gonzaga is 2-3 at The Stevens Center this season. Since the facility opened in the beginning of the 2014 dual season, the Zags have posted 15 wins and a 15-13 record.
Gonzaga (3-10, 0-3 WCC) will now move onto the bulk of its conference play next as the next six matches will round out West Coast Conference action. The first of those matches will take place Friday, March 25 at 11:30 a.m. at San Diego.
