BOISE, Idaho - The Saint Mary's men's tennis team opened up the 2012 season on Saturday with a resounding victory over Eastern Washington. The Gaels (1-0) captured the doubles point and then dominated singles play to earn a 6-1 win over the Eagles (0-1).
SMC opened doubles play with a win on court three, where senior Steven Dawson-Roberts and sophomore Joakim Norstrom defeated Ben Anderson and Stefan Simikic 8-4.
The Gaels earned the doubles point on court one, as the duo of junior Maxime Olivan and senior Gavin Leon continued their stellar play topping Ilija Cuic and Kyle Koetje 9-8 (7-5).
With the 1-0 lead, Saint Mary's cruised through singles play with wins on every court except No. 1. Senior Sherif Hamdy topped Mario Navarro 6-4, 6-2 on court two, while junior Saad Benkirane defeated James Russell by that same score at the three spot. After dropping the first set on court four, Leon stormed back to earn a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Koetje.
Two newcomers who have just joined the team in January earned the final two points for the Gaels. Sophomore Seif El Sherbini earned a close two-set win at the five spot, defeating Simikic 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2). Freshman Samuel Bloore rounded out the wins for SMC, topping Anderson 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
The Gaels will return to action on Sunday with a tough contest against No. 49 Boise State at 10:30 a.m.
Courtesy: Tod Fierner
