HOUSTON – The Southwestern University Pirates men's tennis team welcomed the University of St. Thomas to the SCAC and NCAA Division III play with an 8-1 victory over the Celts.

 Southwestern won all three doubles matches, getting an 8-4 victory from Hemanshu Rambojun and Hunter Bajoit over Juanrodrigo Lopez and Quashi Philips in the No. 1 spot. Alexander Joseph and Dean Dulthummon bested Race Haas and Jace Ware 8-6 in the No. 2 spot and Vesko Lekovic and Alexis Dimanche defeated Michael Hopkins and Tyler Head 8-1 in the No. 3 spot.

In singles, Dimanche defeated Lopez 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 1 spot and Bajoit won over Haas in the No. 2 position by a score of 6-1, 6-2.

Joseph defeated Hopkins 6-4, 6-5 in the No. 3 singles but Dulthummon lost 6-7, 3-6 to Philips in No. 4 doubles. Steven Tibbetts won over Ware 7-5, 6-2 and Max Pearson had a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Head in the No. 6 spot.

With the win, the Pirates improve to 1-0 on the season. Southwestern will travel to Belton, Texas next week to face Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, Feb. 7 then return home to host Angelo State on Saturday, Feb. 8 in a scrimmage.