The Weber State University men’s tennis team secured its eighth win of the year in a narrow win against the University of Northern Colorado on Sunday.
Freshman Jakub Gewert pulled off a 6-4 win over Brandon Lupo in the third set of the No. 1 singles match to give the Wildcats a 4-3 win over UNC on Sunday at the Eagle Ridge Tennis Club.
Coming into the match, UNC had the better record with 12 wins on the year. WSU head coach Brad Ferreira said he was really happy with the way the team performed and was proud of the team members for pulling through when it mattered. He said the win showed the team’s character.
“This was a great performance for us today,” Ferreira said. “Northern Colorado had to win this match to qualify for the conference tournament, and they would not give up. We showed a lot of fight and determination in a very competitive situation.”
The deciding game came down to the final set, tied 3-3. Gewert and Lupo split the first two sets 6-2, 3-6. Gewert won the final game to seal the victory for the Wildcats.
WSU started the match strong, taking the doubles point with wins in the No. 2 and 3 matches. The doubles team of Todd Fought and Sanjay Goswami defeated UNC’s Eric Schuermans and Mitchel Knight 8-5 at No. 2, while Anthony Trabert and Ryan Garner took down Jordan Loughnan and Jeff Carlson 8-4 in the No. 3 match to pick up the point from doubles play.
Oliver Good made the score 2-0 for WSU with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Knight in the No. 3 singles match, but the Bears came back with wins at No. 2 and 4 to even the match.
Ferreira said Good’s performance helped the Wildcats, and that he thought Good had been playing strong tennis lately. Throughout this year, Good has consistently been one of the stronger players for the Wildcats.
“Ollie gave us another solid performance in singles,” Ferreira said. “He has been playing incredibly confident tennis lately.”
The Bears took a brief lead with a win at No. 6 singles, but Goswami knotted the contest again with a 6-2, 7-6 win over Schuermans at No. 5, sending the fate of the match into Gewert’s hands.
While Ferreira said he was pleased with the overall performance of the team, he also said one player stood out on the day.
“Jakub was the hero of the match today,” Ferreira said. “He took the match in his hands in a third set against a senior who has been playing very good tennis, and he pulled it out for us.”
The Wildcats moved to 8-11 overall and 3-4 in the conference, while UNC dropped to 12-7 overall and 4-6 in league play.
Now WSU will travel to southern Utah to take on Southern Utah University on Thursday. Then the team will wrap up its season over the weekend against Northern Arizona University.
With the win over the weekend, WSU has gained a spot in the conference tournament. The Wildcats are currently sitting at sixth place in the conference.
