March 31, 2006

LAS VEGAS - The 61st-ranked UNLV men's tennis team opened Mountain West Conference play with a 6-1 win over Air Force on a cloudy and cool Friday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

With their fifth win in six matches, the Rebels improved to 12-4 overall and 8-0 at home while the Falcons fell to 11-5 and 0-1 in the league.

UNLV came out strong in doubles play and won on all three courts to capture a 1-0 lead.

In singles the Falcons quickly tied things as 107th-ranked Shannon Buck raced by Joel Kielbowicz on the top court 6-4, 6-0. UNLV, however won the first set on the bottom four courts and quickly clinched the overall victory.

Winning for the hosts were Elliot Wronski on court three (6-3, 7-6), Wesley Burrows at No. 4 (6-2, 6-2), Jonathan Hooper at No. 5 (6-3, 6-1) and David Campbell on court six (6-3, 6-3). Senior Romain Massaro eventually ended the day with a super-tiebreaker victory, 6-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 2.

"It's always good to start off conference play by beating a tough opponent," UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook said. "Everyone battled today and it was satisfying to see Romain come back from down a set. Now we have to get ready for another tough Mountain West match."

The Rebels continue with league play Saturday by hosting No. 54 Utah beginning at 1:30 p.m.

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#61 UNLV 6, AIR FORCE 1At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas, NV
DOUBLES: (UNLV EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. Kielbowicz/Campbell (UNLV) def.#52 Buck/Johnson (AFA) 8-52. Wronski/Hunter (UNLV) def.Alexander/Ferry (AFA) 8-23. Massaro/Burrows (UNLV) def.White/Cronican (AFA) 8-4
SINGLES: (UNLV EARNS FIVE TEAM POINTS)1. #107 Shannon Buck (AFA) def. Joel Kielbowicz (UNLV) 6-4, 6-02. Romain Massaro (UNLV) def. Trevor Johnson (AFA) 6-7, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7)3. Elliot Wronski (UNLV) def. Robby Alexander (AFA) 6-3, 7-64. Wesley Burrows (UNLV) def. Keith Cronican (AFA) 6-2, 6-25. Jonathan Hooper (UNLV) def. Greg Ferry (AFA) 6-3, 6-16. David Campbell (UNLV) def. Ryan White (AFA) 6-3, 6-3