SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga men's tennis team defeated visiting Idaho State 6-1 Friday evening inside the Stevens Center. The Zags improve to 7-1 on the season.
The team started strong in their doubles play, winning on courts two and three.
Leon Roider and
Sasha Trkulja were first to finish for the Zags at No. 2 doubles, defeating Robert Steinhauser and Hiroki Fujita 6-2.
Matthew Perkins and
Matthew Hollingworth clinched the doubles point for the Zags with a 6-3 victory over ISU's Gary Rendek and Jaime Castillo-Lopez at No. 3. Court 1 went unfinished, but Gonzaga's
Oliver Andersson and
Theo McDonald led 5-3 against the Bengals.
"It was a tough match," Hollingworth said. "Idaho State had good energy and they fought well in doubles. We played really well throughout doubles and took that momentum into singles."
Trkulja was first to finish for the Bulldogs in singles play, defeating Aleksander Petrovic 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. On court five, ISU's Castillo-Lopez defeated
Theo McDonald 6-2, 6-2 for the Bengals' lone point of the match, but GU's
Pablo Gomez Galvan secured the 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 6 for another Zag point. Hollingworth delivered the winning point for the Zags, winning 6-4, 7-6(7-5) over Patrik Trhac at No. 1 singles.
"I think my opponent was tricky to play against, but I knew I had to stay mentally strong and stay solid on my serve and base line," said Hollingworth. "I had to stay tricky for him, which I think I did well, and ultimately I was able to win in the tie break."
While the Zags had taken the match with a score of 4-1, both court three and four played out. Roider on court three defeated Fujita 6-3, 6-4 while Anderrson won 6-4, 7-5 against Steinhauser on court four.
"Overall, I think we are pretty excited and focused on our UW match this weekend," Hollingworth said. "It is a great opportunity to play a PAC-12 team, and we want to be aggressive and hopefully repeat what we did here today.".
Gonzaga hits the road for its next match as it travels to Seattle, Wash., to face Washington Sunday, March 7 at 4 p.m. at Quilliam Stadium. Visit GoZags.com for up-to-date match time information.
