Utah State junior Samuel Serrano and freshman Jose Fernando Carvajal led the men's tennis team as it opened its run at the Utah Intercollegiate on Friday. The pair of Aggies was victorious in all their matches in the round-robin tournament on day one.
In singles, Serrano won both of his matches with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Weber State's Kris Van Wyk before beating Stefan Cooper, 7-6, 7-5. Carvajal had a walkover win against WSU's JD Malan and a 7-5, 6-3 victory over the Wildcats' Bo-Han Li. Senior Andrew Nakajima defeated Weber State's Cezary Walkusz and Nick Werner, 6-4, 7-6 (2) and 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, respectively. Freshman Aditya Vashistha also won both matches, beating Li, 7-5, 6-2, and earning a walkover win against Malan.
Sophomore Sergiu Bucur split his singles matches, losing 6-4, 7-6, to Cooper and winning 6-2,1-0 after Van Wyk was forced to retire. Freshman Felipe Acosta lost 6-3, 7-6 (4) to the Wildcats' Hou-En Chen, but he had a 6-2, 6-4 victory over WSU's Michiel Van Schoor. Freshman Valdemar Holm won 6-3, 6-4 against Van Schoor, but he lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to Chen. Junior Austin Bass lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Werner and 6-3, 6-2 to Walkusz.
In doubles, Serrano and Carvajal defeated Nevada's Kostya Nesterenko and Robert Margitfalvi, 6-3, to finish their day unblemished. Nakajima and Bass lost 7-5 to the Wolfpack's Peter O'Donovan and Jeremy Merville. Vashistha and Acosta lost 6-2 to Nevada's Jonathan Aremon and Dylan Levitt.
Ashley Springer is a student at Utah State University studying journalism and communication. Springer is an intern with the USU athletic department's media relations.