Senior David Ayoun returns a serve in his
doubles match on Sunday. Ayoun, along with
partner Jean-Charles Diame, defeated UNLV’s
Rene Ruegamer and Johannes Markel, 8-3.
Esteban Cortez / The Collegian
The nationally ranked Bulldog tennis team continued its rise to dominance, defeating UNLV, 5-2, on Sunday at the Wathen Tennis Center for its eighth-straight win.
No. 25 Fresno State earned the doubles point against the Rebels with partners David Ayoun and Jean-Charles Diame, and Zachary Leslie and Sai Kartik Nakireddi winning their matches.
But it was on the singles court where the ‘Dogs were able to separate themselves from the Rebels, winning four of the six matches, to clinch the victory.
Ayoun, a senior, was the first to finish in singles play, besting Charlie Alvarado in two sets, 6-3, 6-4.
“It’s always good to win, especially at home,” Ayoun said. “It was a tough match. I knew this guy. I played him last year and I didn’t want to go to a third set. I wanted to finish it and at 5-4. I just put more pressure on and I finished it.”
The Rebels responded with a win in the No. 3 singles match where Brian Kenyon downed Diame in two sets, 6-2, 6-4. UNLV’s only other singles point came when Tamas Batyi beat Leslie 7-5, 6-4.
In No. 1 singles, Fresno State’s Remi Boutillier struggled to win his singles match, going into a tiebreaker after the second set.
“It seemed like an easy match, but it really wasn’t” Boutillier said, “I was still struggling to get my service game, and then he started serving better in the second [set]. I’m glad it didn’t go to the third set, it would’ve been hard.”
Boutiller, ranked No. 19 nationally in singles play, downed Rene Ruegamer in a tiebreaker after two sets, 6-1, 7-6 (3).
Despite the stiff competition, Boutillier knew his team had to persevere in order to get the win.
“These matches are always tough,” Boutillier said. “We just have to come out here and compete. And as long as we compete on every single court, then I think we’re going to be a good team but we have to make sure everyone is focused on every single day.”
And that’s exactly what the Bulldogs did, who improved to 8-1 on the season, not losing since their second game of the season against UCLA on Jan. 29.
Head coach Jay Udwadia admitted that the singles play was up-and-down, but that his players were able to remained focused and battle it out for the win.
“We take it one match at a time,” Udwadia said. “We’re trying to stay grounded. We don’t want to go into any match, thinking whatever ranking they have.”
UNLV was ranked No. 63 coming into Sunday’s match.
So far this season Udwadia is fairly happy with the results his team has given.
“We’ve performed well, so it’s hard to say that I’m disappointed,” said the eighth-year head coach. “But at the same time with that success comes responsibility. Now that we’re one of the top programs in the country we want to maintain that and try to be greedy and push forward.”
The Bulldogs will travel to San Diego on Friday to compete in the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament.
