DENVER – The University of Denver men’s tennis team earned its first sweep of the season with a 7-0 win over Montana State at Denver Tennis Park on Sunday.
With just two games lost across the only two doubles matches to finish, Denver moved to singles with a 1-0 lead. The Pioneers then won all six first sets as the start of a convincing singles performance overall.
Doubles:
Two comprehensive doubles wins gave the match’s first point to Denver. DU’s top pairing of senior Ryoma Mishiro and sophomore Samuel Rovai secured a bagel after winning two thirds of the points played to finish in 25 minutes. Just five minutes later, senior Raffaello Papajcik and freshman Aaron Beduhn clinched the point with a 6-2 win at the No. 3 spot. They broke in their first return game and then added a second break for a 5-2 lead.
The No. 2 match was left unfinished and on serve with graduate student Connor Robb-Wilcox and sophomore Theo Coats sitting at 3-4.
Singles:
Mishiro was the first Pioneer to wrap up a singles point after moving to the No. 5 slot. He won the first five games on his way to a 6-1 first set and again broke early in the second set. A 4-1 lead turned into a 6-4 win for him.
Sophomore Theo Coats put DU within a point of the win with two matching 6-2 sets. In both frames, he also jumped out to 4-1 leads and went on to win the final two games as well.
Graduate student Connor Robb-Wilcox clinched the win with another straight-sets win for the Pioneers. A 4-0 lead in the first set turned into a 6-4 set for the DU player, and a break in the fourth game of the second set proved to be all he needed to put away the match.
In his first season taking over the No. 1 singles spot for DU, sophomore Rovai earned his first win of the dual season. Twice in the opening set, he rallied back from a break down to force a tiebreaker, in which he held an early lead before hanging on for a 7-5 win. The players traded breaks again early before Rovai went ahead 5-4 and successfully served it out.
Beduhn gave DU a 6-0 lead with what was the first dual singles wins of his young collegiate career. After splitting the first two sets, the DU freshman found himself down a break early and faced down his opponent serving for the match at 4-5, breaking to get back to even terms. A service hold at love and another break in what would be the final game gave Beduhn the point.
The final match of the day saw Papajcik collect a win in three sets at No. 2 singles. He dominated early, going up 5-0 as part of 6-1 first-set win, and carried momentum into the start of the second. MSU’s Oumar Diallo got back to even terms, though, and broke late to force a final set. After breaks in the first two games, Papajcik successfully consolidated another break for an eventual 4-2 lead. Two more service holds, including one at love in the final game, gave DU its seventh and final point of the match.
Up Next:
The University of Denver men’s tennis team returns to Denver Tennis Park to take on Utah on Friday, February 6, at 4 p.m. MT.
