April 3, 2004

LAS VEGAS - After the desert skies finally cleared, the UNLV men's tennis team opened its Mountain West Conference season with a 6-0 victory over Utah at the Fertitta Tennis Complex Saturday afternoon.

The Rebels improved to 10-5 overall, including 8-2 at home this spring while the Utes fell to 9-9.

Because the match was delayed more than four hours because of another morning storm, the teams opened with singles play and split the first sets at three apiece. However, UNLV rallied to take all three three-setters to earn the shutout as doubles action was canceled. Leading the way for the Rebels at the top position was 77th-ranked Henner Nehles, who came back to down Roeland Brateanu, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.

At No. 2, Aviram Salomon won his 10th consecutive match, 6-3, 6-2 over Tomasz Grzyb. Also scoring for the hosts were Romain Massaro at No. 3, Joel Kielbowicz at No. 4, David DiMartino at No. 5 and Marko Blagojevic on Court Six.

The Rebels will close out their home schedule Sunday vs. No. 64 San Diego State, which upended No. 69 BYU 5-1 in Las Vegas. Originally scheduled for 10 a.m., Sunday's match will instead begin at 11 a.m.

Also, the four head coaches decided to not make up Friday's postponed matches between UNLV and BYU and SDSU and Utah.

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTSUNLV 6, UTAH 0At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas

DOUBLES: NOT PLAYED

SINGLES: (UNLV EARNS SIX TEAM POINTS)1. #77 Henner Nehles (UNLV) def. Roeland Brateanu (UU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-42. Aviram Salomon (UNLV) def. Tomasz Grzyb (UU) 6-3, 6-23. Romain Massaro (UNLV) def. Miron Mann (UU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-34. Joel Kielbowicz (UNLV) def. Nick Coutts (UU) 6-3, 6-45. David DiMartino (UNLV) def. Jason Yap (UU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-06. Marko Blagojevic (UNLV) def. Ryan Scott (UU) 6-7, 6-3, 6-1