“You can’t get much better than 9-1, if you told me at the beginning of the year that we were 9-1, I would have asked what team are you watching?” said Head Coach Danny Westerman of Pioneer tennis.
The answer to that question is the No. 59 Denver Pioneers.
A squad that has lost to only then No. 59 Middle Tennesse and has beaten the likes of then No. 40 Minnesota and No. 49 New Mexico.
“We have been started off really well and have not lost to any really bad teams yet, we just have to keep it up,” said senior Adam Holmstrom.
This past weekend DU disposed off two more opponents, Idaho, 4-0 on Friday night and BYU 4-3 on Saturday night. Both matches were held at nearby Meadow Creek Tennis Club and were the final home dates of the season.
“It’s great to go 2-0 at home. We don’t play that many home matches and it was awesome to have a nice crowd out,” said Westerman.
Friday night Denver had little trouble with the Vandals as they started off with a sweep in doubles play. The No. 7 ranked tandem of Holmstrom and Niklas Persson easily won their match 8-3, while junior Benny Althaus and freshman Andrew Landwerlen were victorious 8-4.
The Pioneers moved onto singles play, and No. 11-ranked singles player Holmstrom dominated Stanislav Glukhov of Idaho, 6-1 and 6-1. Sophomore David Simson and Landwerlen also claimed singles points before the other three games were stopped after DU had won four points and clinched a victory.
On Saturday, Holmstrom and Persson kept up their hot play in doubles action with an 8-4 win over Jonathan Sanchez and Tom Young of BYU as Landwerlen and Althaus also won their match, 8-5 to help DU claim the doubles point.
In singles play, Holmstrom continually frustrated opponent Jonathan Sanchez with his impressive shot selection and solid serve on his way to a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Simson won his match 6-3 and 6-4, while Kalle Rosen claimed the match for DU with a 6-3 and 6-0 win.
“We are trying to get better every day. The big tournament is conference in April, and we just have to keep on working at improving our game,” said Holmstrom after the victory over BYU.
Denver will continue its challenging schedule this weekend when the squad travels to Eugene, Ore., to take on No. 27 Washington (6-4) on Saturday afternoon and Oregon (6-5) on Sunday morning.
“I tell the guys every day that we can play with anybody, but we can lose to anybody, too,” said Westerman.
Women:
The No. 39 Pioneers continued their perfect season by squeaking out two victories in Utah over the weekend. On Friday Denver (9-0) defeated No. 56 BYU 4-3 with singles victories by junior Mallory Voelker, junior Annette Aksdal and sophomore Julia Bauregger and doubles wins by pairs Voelker and Bauregger and Aksdal and junior Kaja Smole.
Saturday, DU beat No. 66 Utah 4-3 while losing the doubles point for the first time this season. Voelker and Bauregger were the only doubles pair to win for the Pioneers.
Luckily the Pioneers stepped it up in singles play as Voelker, Aksdal, Bauregger and junior Kyla Iwinski were victorious.
Denver will return to campus this Saturday when they host UTEP at 2 p.m. at Stapleton Tennis Pavilion.
