Photo by: Michael Furman
The DU men’s tennis team earned five wins at the Key Biscayne Invitational behind a pair of great individual efforts from sophomores Enej Bonnin and Fabio Biason.
The No. 40-ranked Pioneers opened their 2011 season facing tough oppositions such as No. 5 Texas, No. 25 Michigan and No. 45 LSU in Key Biscayne, Fla.
Although they were outmatched, DU came away with two opening-day victories after Bonnin and Varun Gunaseelen defeated Michigan’s Jason Jung and Duncan Muil, respectively, in singles competition.
Bonnin’s defeat of Jung was impressive as Jung is ranked No. 35 in the nation for individual players.
Denver came away from the second day of competition with three wins to add to their total. Biasion was instrumental to that success, winning matches in both singles and doubles competition.
Bonnin paired with Biasion to defeat a twosome from Michigan, while Gunaseelen teamed with Yanick Weihs to defeat another UM pairing to bring Denver its second doubles win of the day.
The final day of the invitational was slightly disappointing as DU failed to add to their total of five wins.
Head coach Danny Westerman was full of praise for his squad given the tough opposition they faced, suggesting that the team had “learned a lot” from the weekend.
Westerman was especially pleased with the progress of the doubles pairing of Biasion and Bonnin.
“They had come a long way from where they were a year ago,” said Westerman.
In addition, Westerman singled out the rapid development of freshman Alex Clinkenbeard as another positive sign going into the season.
On the back of the resolute performance at Key Biscayne, Westerman is confident heading into the home matches against Montana State on Jan. 21.
“We have a chance to win at every spot in the lineup, and that is an important trait of good teams,” said Westerman.
Westerman warned that complacency could become a problem despite his team’s strength in depth.
“Every college team is good now, so if we are not ready to play, we can lose to anyone,” said Westerman.
Nonetheless, DU goes into their matches against MSU with plenty of confidence following their early season success.
The Pioneers host the Bobcats this Friday at the Denver Country Club at 5 p.m.
