Dzianis Zharyn and Cesar Bouchelaghem races for the ball during Washington men's tennis game against UNLV on Feb. 19, 2023 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. The duo won their doubles set 6-1 on Sunday.
Finding success yet again on home turf, the Washington men’s tennis team took down UNLV 7-0 on Sunday morning.
The win extended the Huskies’ undefeated record at home to 4-0.
For only the second time this season, the doubles point was determined with the first two out of the three courts finishing in Washington’s favor, rather than being split between UW and its respective opponents.
Court 2 finished just seconds before Court 1. Sophomore Nedim Suko and freshman Brett Pearson bounced back after a 6-0 loss in their last doubles set against Oregon, with a 6-1 set win today.
Soon to follow, Court 1 with sophomores Cesar Bouchelaghem and Dzianis Zharyn kept the ball rolling into Sunday’s match after their victory over top-10 ranked opponents against Oregon earlier in the week. The two matched Suko and Pearson with another 6-1 set win.
With a 1-0 lead going into singles, the Huskies (6-3, 1-0 Pac-12) only needed to clinch three single matches to secure the overall match win over the Rebels (6-3).
Zharyn’s match finished first at No. 2 singles. Matching the set scores from his doubles match, Zharyn won in straight 6-1 sets, placing Washington up by two.
Court 3 with Bouchelaghem finished next. Bouchelaghem earned 6-3, 6-0 set wins to make the overall match score 3-0.
His win not only bolstered UW’s chances of staying undefeated at home, it also extended Bouchelaghem’s singles record for the season to an undefeated 9-0.
No. 5 singles with junior Jim Hendrikx clinched the overall match. Hendrikx earned 6-4, 6-1 set wins.
The remaining matches were played to completion.
Pearson’s match finished next on Court 6. Despite earning a 6-3 win in the first set, Pearson was down by a game in the second set. Managing to pull ahead, Pearson won his second set, 7-5, wrapping up his weekend with two singles match wins.
Suko then pushed the Huskies ahead by six with 6-3, 6-4 set wins.
Junior Han-Chih Lin finished the clean sweep of the Rebels at No. 1 singles. The first two sets were split one a piece between UW and UNLV on Court 1. Lin earned the final point of the match in a tie-break third set.
Washington will remain at home and host Santa Clara on Friday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m.
Reach reporter Tess Kadian at [email protected]. Twitter: @tkadian21
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