The UNLV men’s tennis team honored its seniors, Anton Ornberg, Aaron Bailey and Jackson Atherton, on April 19 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex prior to a 5-2 defeat against the San Diego State Aztecs.
The Aztecs started off strong in doubles. The pairing made up of Eugenio Gonzalez and Johannes Seeman got the better of UNLV seniors Ornberg and Atherton, winning the court 6-4. The Aztecs earned the doubles point with Robin Parts and Alexander Mandma defeating the Rebels’ winningest pairing of Illia Maksymchuk and Taiyo Hirano 6-2.
Maksymchuk and Hirano entered the matchup against the Aztecs with a 7-3 record in doubles this season.
UNLV bounced back in the singles competition. Ornberg started the rally snapping his four match losing streak in singles defeating Seeman (6-4,6-4), and Maksymchuk earned his ninth singles victory of the season beating Bora Sengul (6-3,3-6,6-3) to give the Rebels a 2-1 lead.
After the two unanswered points by the Rebels, the Aztecs won the remaining four courts to win the match 5-2. Chikaya Sato defeated Bailey to knot up the score at 2-2, and Eugenio Gonzalez followed suit, winning against junior Taiyo Hirano at No. 3 to take the lead.
Parts and Mandma closed out the game for the Aztecs, defeating Rebels Thomas Navarro and Creed Skinner at No. 2 and No. 4.
Coach Andy Jackson shared his thoughts from the senior day action. “We fought hard but kind of snatched defeat from the jaws of victory of Nos. 3 and 4. Congrats to SDSU, and now we look forward to facing UNR.”
Following the senior day action, the Rebels are 8-10 and 1-3 in the Mountain West while the Aztecs improved their record to 14-5 and 3-2 in the Mountain West.
The big rivalry is up next as the UNLV men’s tennis team closes out their regular season against UNR on the road, looking to come out on top in the Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union.
