Men’s tennis is racketing to the top
March 27, 2001
The wins keep pouring in, as the Sac State men?s tennis team continues to roll through the competition. Sac State defeated UOP Saturday afternoon 4-3, stretching its winning streak to eight and its record to 10-1.
UOP, who is nationally ranked, was a great win for the Hornet?s according to head coach Chris Evers.
“They are ranked nationally number 65. We are not ranked because they rank the top 75, but they are about 20 pots ahead of us,” Evers said. “Everyone played great. It was a huge win.”Sac State won three of the six singles matches and swept doubles play to win the doubles point and defeat UOP 4-3.
Coming into the match, Evers did not know what to expect. Injuries were occurring and he was not sure who to expect to step out on the court.
“We had three guys on Thursday who we didn?t know if they were going to be able to play,” Evers said. “Everyone gutted up, it was a better win.”
Singles winners for the Hornet?s were from the numbers one, four, and five singles players.In the number one spot was junior Sherif Zaher, defeating his opponent 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.
Evers is very impressed with the play of Zaher, who’s record now stands at 9-2 in singles play.”He (Zaher) plays the cream of the crop every match, there are no easy matches,” Evers said. “I like to get 50 percent wins from my number one player, and Zaher is doing more than that. He is a great player.”
Sophomore Sylvain Iff, playing in the number four spot was able to defeat his opponent in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
This was a big win for the sophomore according to Evers, and it even showed the coach what he is capable of doing.
“That was a gigantic win for Sylvain,” Evers said. “He came back to last year’s form.”The other singles win for Sac State came in the number five position. Senior Joseph Gilbert won in an easy fashion, 6-3, 6-0.
“Gilbert is mowing guys down, he is a solid player,” Evers said.
In doubles play, Sac State won all three doubles matches.
Zaher and Gilbert teamed up and won 8-4, while junior Fabio Jesus and senior Chris Smith won 8-5. Playing in the number three spot was Gilbert and senior Kevin Vieira, who won the match 8-4.
The Hornet?s will return to the court Thursday, when the team heads to Irvine to participate in the UC Irvine Tournament.
Evers believes the team will face good competition and will need a healthy team to defeat the competition.
“We have a tough tournament coming up,” Evers said. “We need these guys healthy.”
