Southwestern came out strong in their first conference match of the season, defeating Centenary College 8-1 in men's and women's tennis action over the weekend.
The men kicked off the day with a sweep of doubles action. Egan Cornachione and Sam McCready had a tough match in #1 doubles but emerged with the win 8-6. Andy Clarage and Alvaro Rojas dominated their #2 doubles match by not dropping a single set to win 8-1. Omeed Azmoudeh and Scott Sandoval completed the sweep with an 8-3 win in #3 doubles.
SU continued their outstanding play in singles matches. Clarage (#2) and McCready (#3) swept sets to win 6-0. 6-0. Sandoval (#4) won 6-4, 6-1, Azmoudeh (#5) won 6-0, 6-3 and Rojas (#6) won 6-0, 6-2. Cornachione fell in a dog fight after an elongated match, losing 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-10.
The women were just as sharp but went 2-1 in doubles matches to start. Aimee Blake and Elizabeth Ellis (#1) and Gabby Hunt and Kristina Krampitz (#3) both won their matches 8-2, while Sarah Johnson and Marieke Visser (#2) fell 8-2.
Singles played allowed the Pirates to pull away as they swept play. Blake started things off with an easy 6-0, 6-4 win in #1 singles and Hunt upped the ante with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep in the #2 slot. Hunt continued the winning with a 6-2, 6-4 win in #3 singles and Visser followed suit winning 6-3, 6-4 in #4 singles. Ellis (#5) and Krampitz (#6) closed out the win with 7-5, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-2 wins, respectively.
The men improve to 3-6 on the year while the women improve to 5-5 overall. The teams return to action on April 13th as they face SCAC opponent Colorado College before taking on Hastings.