No. 4 Nevada (12-9, 2-4 MW) vs. No. 5 Air Force (11-11, 2-4 MW)
Wednesday, April 23 – 5 p.m. PT
Las Vegas, Nev. – Darling Tennis Center
 
Watch: Playsight/Mountain West Network
Live Results: iOn Court
Championship Center

LAS VEGAS – Nevada Men's Tennis opens the Mountain West Championships tomorrow at 5 p.m. facing No. 5 seed Air Force at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
 
The fourth-seeded Pack (12-9, 2-4 MW) enter the tournament off a 1-1 week where Nevada defeated its Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union rivals, UNLV, 4-3, then finished the regular season on a 4-2 loss at San Diego State. Air Force (11-11, 2-4 MW) lost its final two regular season matches, falling to #42 Boise State, 1-4, and at Utah State 1-4.
 
Nevada and Air Force squared off on March 30 at McArthur Tennis Center where the Pack won an unorthodox match, winning on a doubles point clinch. With the singles played before doubles due to weather, the teams split the singles session 3-3 with Youssef Kadiri, Lucas Hammond, and Max Contet all picking up wins for the Pack. Kadiri and Hammond dominated their top-flight match to take an early advantage in doubles play, but Air Force tied with a win from Arjun Kersten and Jack Brown. The Pack clinched on court three in a back-and-forth match in a tiebreaker, 7-2.
 
At the top of the lineup for the Pack are seniors Kadiri and Hammond, each of whom have slotted nicely into their singles positions and have been a force together in doubles play. As a duo, Kadiri and Hammond have won 21 matches together, including a perfect 9-0 in the spring season, all at the top-flight. Kadiri and Hammond's 21 victories are tied for the program record for wins in a season by a doubles pair.
 
Individually, Kadiri has led the Pack all spring, competing exclusively at the top-flight and winning 10 of 15 matches. His 25 total singles victories this year rank third in program history, just two away from tying the all-time single-season record. Hammond, second on the team in wins this season with 17 has slotted into the second singles court for the Pack.
 
In their regular season match, Nevada and Air Force were perfectly split in terms of depth, with Nevada winning on courts, one, three, and five, and the Falcons taking courts two, four, and six. The Pack will look back to its depth, needing wins from its young players. Rayen Hermassi has become Head Coach Sylvain Marloux's go to for the third singles court in recent weeks. Hermassi helped the Pack comeback against UNLV last week with his court three win over a Rebel, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Hermassi has also played in flights four and five this spring.
 
Courts four through six have seen lots of variations, depending on the availability of freshman Axel Huysmans. The Belgian freshman is 4-1 in the spring with a 2-0 record in flights four and five. Another standout freshman, Max Contet, leads the conference in Freshman of the Week awards with three. Contet is 7-5 in the spring season playing on courts five and six, with one appearance on court four which was abandoned. Contet's moment of the season was clinching the Pack's win against UNLV last week.
 
Rémy Trégourès has all throughout the line up for the Pack, with the majority of his results being on court four, especially in recent weeks. Greg Valente rounds out the Wolf Pack roster, featuring in nine matches this spring with a 3-3 record. Valente has primarily played on court six, holding a 3-2 record in the flight.
 
In doubles, Nevada has had to shift its lineup. Last week the same doubles lineup featured in each match. With Kadiri and Hammond playing in the top-flight, Trégourès and Valente played on court two with Contet and Hermassi rounding out the lineup. Together, Trégourès and Valente have a 2-3 record in the spring, all on court two. Their key win together came against Boise State's second pair helping the Pack win the doubles point over the Broncos. The duo also picked up a win at UNLV, helping the Wolf Pack's victory. Contet and Hermassi have only played the three most recent matches together, winning their match at UNLV.
 
Scouting the Falcons, Air Force thrives on its depth in its lineup, boasting records at or above .600 on courts four through six. Phillip Deaton and Kersten sit atop the lineup for Air Force, recording 37 of the 39 results in the top two flights. AJ Moore and Alex Fritzinger have both spent time in flights three and four, with Moore spending more time on court three recently. Matthew Staton has spent the most time on court five, holding a 10-7 record and 11-7 record in all flights. Jack Brown has been playing on court six for the Falcons recently since he went on a five-match winning streak earlier this month. Langdon Tingleaf also spent a lot of time on court six with a 5-5 record there.
 
The Falcons have struggled to find consistency at the bottom of its doubles lineup, having seven different pairs play on court three. The top of the lineup is different as Kersten and Brown have 14 results together in the top-flight match. Last week Deaton and Tyler Leaird played both matches in the second flight while Moore and Tingleaf played each of the third flight matches.
 
Air Force's signature win came over No. 65-ranked New Mexico, 4-3, where Brown clinched the victory for the Falcons, their first win over the Lobos in 20 years and its first ranked win since 2013.
 
The Pack most recent Mountain West Championships win came against Air Force in 2023 when Nevada defeated the Falcons, 4-0.