After losing their first seven matches, the Weber State University men’s tennis team went 2-0 over the weekend, beating Colorado Mesa and Gonzaga University.
The Wildcats took the court Saturday and handed the Colorado Mesa Mavericks their third loss on the year, winning 6–1.
With Kris Van Wyk and Nick Werner, the ‘Cats started off strong winning the No. 1 spot for the doubles match. Bo-han Li and Paul Ohde followed up that match with a No. 2 doubles win.
Each of the five singles matches were won in dominating fashion by Van Wyk, Ohde, Bo-han, Werner and Cezary Walkusz. The singles match wins were key to the team’s first win of the season.
“Sometimes the first win of the season is the hardest,” said Brad Ferriera, the director of tennis. “Hopefully this is the catalyst we need to get going. I’m happy with how the boys played today and are looking forward to our match tomorrow.”
Weber followed up their first win of the season by handing the Gonzaga Bulldogs their first loss, 4–3. Gonzaga rolled into Ogden undefeated on the year with solid wins over Montana and Boise State.
Weber started the Gonzaga match off by winning the doubles, thanks to Ohde and Li at the No. 2 spot and Werner and Walkusz at the No. 3 spot.
Werner fought hard during his No. 5 spot singles match that went three sets, but lost the last set 6–4 and lost the match. Li and Junhao Ye also played well but lost the No. 2 and 4 singles matches.
In the No. 6 spot for the Wildcats, Walkusz took Gonzaga’s Matthew Perkins to three sets and won the final set 6–3 to get the point. Ohde at the No. 3 spot also took his opponent to the third set and won 6–3 to get another singles point.
The ‘Cats stayed strong all match long. They pulled out the victory thanks to Van Wyk’s great performance in the determining match after each team was tied at three points apiece.
“Everyone finished their matches and it was tied at three points a piece, coming down to my match,” Van Wyk said. “Knowing that my team relied on me gave me the focus and determination to win. It was an amazing experience and probably my best college match so far.”
The Wildcats are now 2-7 on the year. Currently the team has hopes of starting a long winning streak, hoping to do what they did last season with a nine-match win streak.
“Last season we had a rough start, and there was a point where it started to change, and we went on a nine-match winning streak,” Van Wyk said. “This time, we have turned it around earlier in the season. I believe we can build on this and end up having a really good season.”
The team will host UC Irvine this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Ogden Athletic Club in South Ogden. Big Sky Conference play begins the following Saturday against Eastern Washington at home.
