Jan. 21, 2011

LAS VEGAS - Despite an impressive effort by its senior leader, the 66th-ranked UNLV men's tennis team opened its 2011 dual-match season with a 6-1 defeat at the hands of No. 15 Texas Tech at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on Friday.

Mehdi Bouras, who began the spring season unranked, upset Gonzalo Escobar, ranked 20th in the nation in singles, in dominating fashion, 6-1, 6-4, to give the Rebels their only point. The win avenged Bouras' three-set loss to Escobar at the All-American tournament in Tulsa last October.

Earlier Friday, Bouras had teamed with Bernard Schoeman for an 8-7 victory at the top of the lineup but the Red Raiders rallied to win the final five points to win on court three and escape with the doubles point and all of the momentum.

Freshman Tomas Batyi of Budapest, Hungary, had a solid first outing for UNLV in singles, winning his first collegiate set over Vitor Manzini on court four before ultimately falling in a super-tiebreaker, 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (10-3).

"We let some matches slip away from us today, which is frustrating, but it was good to see Mehdi open with a big win," said UNLV head coach Owen Hambrook. "Overall, we competed well for it being the first match of the year against a top-20 team and we look forward to getting back to work on Sunday."

The Rebels will look to rebound by hosting a doubleheader on Sunday. UNLV will play Weber State at 10 a.m. and then Northern Arizona starting at approximately 2 p.m. Admission to all matches is free of charge.

UNLV MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS#15 TEXAS TECH 6, #66 UNLV 1Jan. 21, 2011 at Las Vegas(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
Singles competition1. Mehdi Bouras (UNLV) def. #20 Gonzalo Escobar (TXTECH) 6-1, 6-42. Raony Carvalho (TXTECH) def. Johannes Markel (UNLV) 6-1, 6-33. Rafael Garcia (TXTECH) def. Rene Ruegamer (UNLV) 6-3, 6-24. Vitor Manzini (TXTECH) def. Tamas Batyi (UNLV) 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (10-3)5. G. Wanderley (TXTECH) def. Alex Bull (UNLV) def. 7-6, 6-36. Raphael Pfister (TXTECH) def. Kasper Konyves (UNLV) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles competition1. Bouras/Schoeman (UNLV) def. Carvalho/Garcia (TXTECH) 8-7 (9-7)2. Escobar/Manzini (TXTECH) def. Bull/Ruegamer (UNLV) 8-63. Wanderley/David Gonzalez (TXTECH) def. Sublette/Batyi (UNLV) 9-7
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,6,3,1,5,4)