Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Local talent giving needed lift to UNLV men's tennis

Seven players with area ties on interim coach Hambrook's roster

By JEFF WOLLARD
REVIEW-JOURNAL

The UNLV men's tennis roster has long been characterized by an abundance of foreign players and an American coach.

Not anymore. That situation has reversed dramatically this season, as South African interim coach Owen Hambrook will lead a largely American lineup into action next month.

Hambrook, who took over the team after 12-year coach Larry Easley was dismissed last spring, has been associated with local tennis programs for years. He served as director of the state's largest juniors program -- the Junior Tennis Academy at the Sports Club of Las Vegas -- from 1996 to 2000 and has coached for the Southern Nevada USTA Training Center.

When he inherited the men's program in June, Hambrook had little time to do any recruiting. Instead, he called on many of the local players he had coached at the juniors level.

Actually, they called on him.

"Most of them came out, I think, because I was pretty involved in local tennis," said Hambrook, who noted that five of his six local players are walk-ons. "When they found out I was here, they called me and said, `Hey, we want to play. When can we start?' "

Freshman Jonathan Fayeghi (Green Valley), sophomore Sean Hubbard (Bonanza), junior Sean Margulis (Bishop Gorman), junior Joel Kielbowicz (Green Valley), senior Derek Douglas (Green Valley) and senior David DiMartino (Bishop Gorman) are listed on this year's roster. Additionally, Serbian sophomore Milos Blagojevic played two seasons at Valley.

While foreign players Romain Massaro (France), Henner Nehles (Germany) and Aviram Salomon (Israel) will fill the top three spots, the locals should complete the remainder of the lineup.

"It's a pretty close group," Hambrook said. "They hang out together, they study together and they're good friends off the court. And an indirect benefit is you get a lot more local support."

Kielbowicz, who joined the team last year and should occupy the fourth or fifth spot, said he enjoys being a teammate of his childhood friends.

"It's good playing with all the people I grew up with," he said. "They're all very good friends. I've known them for a lot of years."

Kielbowicz sees an interesting benefit to the fact that his teammates used to be his competition. In a friendly way, he said, they still push one another.

"Every time I step onto the court, I try to be my best," he said. "I don't like losing to anybody. We're still competitive, even though we're teammates."

Hambrook views that as a positive.

"They're competitive, but in a good way," he said. "It really raises the level of play."

And after last season, the Rebels could stand to raise their level of play. They went 2-14 and failed to win a conference match.

DiMartino said he thinks the team has improved.

"I don't see why we can't be in the top three in the conference," he said. "We could win the whole thing. It's just a matter of whether or not we consistently play as well as we should."

Regardless of the outcome, Hambrook said he would rely heavily on local players if he is hired beyond this year.

"If I get the job, I'm going to recruit locally for sure," he said. "I just think we've got such great talent here in Southern Nevada. Why not use that local talent?"

The Rebels will open Feb. 7 against Tulane in New Orleans.