Bobcat Men's Tennis Team Routs Eastern Washington

Friday, April 16

3 pm

Montana State University

Eastern Washington

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

4/16/2021 7:37:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

MSU sweeps doubles and clinches victory with three early singles wins

By: Bill Lamberty

BOZEMAN, Montana – Montana State set the tone early and rode it throughout the match in cruising to a 6-1 Big Sky Conference men's tennis win over Eastern Washington on Friday at the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center.

""I thought the guys were focused from the start and did a great job," said Bobcat coach Trey Morris. "

Each of Montana State's three doubles team broke serve in the first three games of their match, and the Bobcats swept the doubles point. In quick succession in singles play, freshman Daan Van Dijk won at No. 1, Nejc Sitar won at No. 3 and Brad Buckland won at No. 4 to clinch the team's victory. Jakob Mosvold won in straight sets at No. 5 singles, and Marcos Zelver finished the day with a straight-set win at No. 6. The only blemish was a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win at No. 2 singles by EWU's Wout Domen over Joaquin Espinoza.

Friday's win in the MSU's home finale found Van Dijk in the middle of much of the action. He teamed with Nejc Sitar, who MSU's last match, for a 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles. Then the freshman made his No. 1 singles debut by beating EWU's Manuel Balce 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). Van Dijk said he didn't find much added pressure with the move into the top ladder position. "I was a bit nervous," he said "but I'm always nervous so I guess it was kind of the same. I think the key was that I came to the net from four-all (in the deciding set), three points straight I went to the net and I won all three of those points. I'm always confident when I come to the net, so I think that was key."

The win raises Montana State's record to 4-8 on the season and 1-2 in Big Sky play. Eastern Washington is 0-12 overall, 0-3 in the league. The Cats finish the regular season next Saturday at Montana.

Montana State 6, Eastern Washington 1
April 16, 2021 at Bozeman, Montana (Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. VAN DIJK, Daan (MSU) def. BALCE, Manuel (EWUM) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
2. DOUMEN, Wout (EWUM) def. ESPINOZA, Joaquin (MSU) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
3. SITAR, Nejc (MSU) def. SARLVIK, Erik (EWUM) 6-3, 6-1
4. BUCKLAND, Brad (MSU) def. ORTEGA, Bruno (EWUM) 6-4, 6-2
5. MOSVOLD, Jakob (MSU) def. MUELLER, Jeremy (EWUM) 6-4, 6-3
6. ZELVER, Marcos (MSU) def. GRIMES, Erik (EWUM) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. SITAR, Nejc/VAN DIJK, Daan (MSU) def. BALCE, Manuel/BATS, Martin (EWUM) 6-1
2. BUCKLAND, Brad/ESPINOZA, Joaquin (MSU) def. SARLVIK, Erik/DOUMEN, Wout (EWUM) 6-3
3. MONTEIRO, Manuel/MOSVOLD, Jakob (MSU) def. ORTEGA, Bruno/MUELLER, Jeremy (EWUM) 6-3

Records: Eastern Washington 0-12/0-3 Big Sky, Montana State 4-8/1-2 Big Sky
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (1,3,4,2,5,6)

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