Wichita State men’s tennis played its first home matches of the year at Genesis Health Clubs on Rock Road on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
The Shockers won decisively in both matches, notching their first wins of the season. Wichita State is off to a 2-2 start.
Wichita State earned its first win in regular season play against the University of Nebraska Omaha on Saturday, the first of a back-to-back.
“Exciting to take care of business, (we) played a good weekend,” WSU head coach Darragh Glavin said. “So excited to get some wins under our belt and get that confidence.”
The Shockers went 2-0 in their doubles against Omaha, leaving sophomore Vanja Hodzic and freshman Ilias Worthington’s match unfinished. Juniors Alejandro Jacome and Kristof Minarik won on court one, 6-3, and freshmen Zaid Al Mashni and Luca Mindrut won 6-3 on court three.
In singles, freshman Zaid Al Mashni was the only Shocker to lose a match, denying them the complete sweep.
The Shockers took their doubles matches against Drake University. Hodzic and Worthington finished first on a 6-2 scoreline.
Al Mashni and freshman Luca Mindrut finished second, but lost 6-3. This left the decider to juniors Alejandro Jacome and Kristof Minarik, who won, 6-3.
Al Mashni was the first to finish his singles match, a win that included a 6-0 domination in his first set. He took the first win with a 6-2 score in the second.
“I started off well,” Al Mashni said. “Played with confidence. These guys are not easy. No match is easy in college.”
Hodzic took his first set against Drake’s Ben Johnson, 6-3. Despite Johnson’s screaming and loud celebration, Hodzic remained calm and collected throughout the game.
“It was annoying,” Hodzic said. “I was pissed, but I just (took) deep breaths. Think about the next point.”
While Hodzic played his first set without much drama, he fell down 4-3 as one of two remaining Shockers playing singles.
“He was serving good,” Hodzic said. “It was tough to break him, but I think I did a good job with returns and playing more alleys.”
Tranquility prevailed as Hodzic took his win in the hard-fought second set.
Worthington took three sets to win his match while the rest of the Shockers won their matches in two sets, sweeping the entire singles bracket. Combined with the doubles win, Wichita State swept Drake 7-0, as Al Mashni avenged his loss from the previous day.
“(Zaid) had chances yesterday in his match, but couldn’t close it out,” Glavin said. “But today I came back and did well, and we’re able to get that seven out today.”
Wichita State will play the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Sunday, Feb. 2. The first serve is scheduled for 11 a.m.
