RENO, Nev. – Seeded fifth in the Mountain West Championship, the Nevada men's tennis team (15-7, 3-4 MW) will face fourth-seeded intrastate rival UNLV (13-9, 3-4 MW) on Thursday at 12 p.m. in the opening round in San Diego, Calif. Governor's Series points will be on the line, as the Wolf Pack can either take all three with a victory over the Rebels or split with a loss.
In its battle with UNLV earlier this season, Nevada defeated the Rebels 4-1 for the first time since 2014. The match was highlighted by sophomore Julien Evrard defeating Alexandr Cozbinov on court No. 1, who was ranked No. 89 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association at the time. Evrard is a team-best 7-2 in his last nine matches.
With its 15 victories this spring, Nevada has tied the second-most wins in a season since 1986. Evrard has led the team in singles play, going 13-6 in the spring and 4-2 in conference play. As a team, the Pack sits at 68-53 in singles this spring and 15-18 in MW play.
In 22 matches this season, the Pack secured the doubles point in 18 of them. Nevada holds a record of 41-13 in doubles matches on the season, including 10-5 in conference play. Three different tandems on the Pack have at least 10 wins this season, including senior Robert Margitfalvi and freshman Jeremy Merville who are 14-5 overall and 2-0 in MW action on court No. 1.
The Rebels have been led by Cozbinov, currently ranked No. 96, who is 16-4 this fall in singles with a 5-2 mark in MW play. The only member of UNLV not coming into the Championship off of a loss is Courtney Lock, who is 8-9 in singles in 2018 but 4-2 in conference competition.
UNLV is 30-27 in doubles this spring, with an 8-11 mark against MW foes. Cozbinov and Lock have been the best duo for the Rebels with a 12-7 record on court No. 1.
The last time the Pack won a MW Championship match was 2015, when it defeated Utah State and San Diego State. Nevada fell 4-3 to Boise State in the final round to finish second in the MW, its highest finish since joining the conference.
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