Nov. 2, 2011
RENO, Nev. - The University of Nevada men's tennis team is set to close out its fall season with a trip to the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Invitational in Eugene, Oregon beginning on Friday.
The event will be hosted by the University of Oregon, with matches being played from Friday to Sunday at the Oregon Student Tennis Center.
Nevada has had strong showings at its first two Fall events, with two individual draw titles to its credit and an appearance in the Quarterfinals of the ITA Mountain Regional Championships.
Senior captain Wessim Derbel is responsible for an individual draw title, winning the main B draw at the Bulldog Classic in early October, and the quarterfinal appearance at the regionals. During that quarterfinal run in Las Vegas, Derbel notched Nevada's best individual win of the tournament season. He defeated the No. 1 overall seed in the main draw, George Batrakov of BYU, 6-4, 7-6 in the round of 32. Derbel is 8-1 so far this year in singles play.
Victor Ouvrard claimed Nevada's other individual-draw win, rebounding from an early loss at the Bulldog Classic to claim a consolation-draw title. He completed his run through the A draw consolation bracket with a 6-4, 6-7, 10-8 win over Daniel Sardu of Oregon. Ouvrard is 5-2 overall in singles play.
Doubles teams have also shown some promise early, as Derbel teamed with newcomer Fernando Sunago to post strong results at the regionals. The pair reached the round of 16 in the main-doubles draw, winning two matches to do so. Playing a few more matches together than Derbel and Sunago, who are 2-2 overall,
Ouvrard and Moez Echargui have posted a 5-3 doubles record in tournament play.
After the Wolf Pack completes play in Eugene, it will break from competition until January 18, 2012, when the group goes to Riverside, Calif. to take on the highlanders in a dual contest.
