WAVERLY, Iowa (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire men's tennis team added two more to the win column today with victories over Wartburg College (Iowa) and Morningside College (Iowa).
The regionally-ranked Blugolds defeated Wartburg 7-2 and then rolled past Morningside 8-1. Eau Claire has now won 14 straight matches and boasts a 14-1 overall record.
In the first match against Wartburg, three singles events went to the third set, and Eau Claire come out on top in two of them. Lars Olson (Sr.-De Pere, Wis.), playing from the No. 2 spot, defeated his opponent 6-2, 3-6, 10-3. In the No. 6 match, Ryan Vande Linde (Fr.-Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial) lost the initial set 2-6, but battled back for consecutive 6-3, 10-3 sets.
The Blugolds won two of its three doubles matches, but the lone loss in the No. 3 match was a close 9-8 defeat. Chris Kuna (Jr.-Edina, Minn.) and Olson in the No. 1 spot and the team of Eric Wollum (Sr.-Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial) and Dirk Van Rybroek (Jr.-Madison, Wis./Edgewood) playing in the No. 2 match picked up respective 8-4 and 8-2 wins.
Eau Claire also played a few close matches against Morningside. Van Rybroek, playing from the No. 5 spot, defeated his opponent in sets of 4-6, 6-2 and a close 10-8 third set. In doubles, the duo of David Stingley (So.-St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park) and Bryan Yanagita (Fr.-Minneapolis, Minn./South) scraped out a tight, 9-7 victory.
Other Morningside matches exemplified the power of the Blugold team. Joe Meier (Fr.-Hutchinson, Minn.), playing from the No. 6 spot, didn't give up a single game in his 6-0, 6-0 win. Kuna and Vande Linde also gave up just two games apiece en route to their respective No. 1 and No. 4 match wins. The Blugolds also boasted a pair of stout doubles victories, as the team of Kuna and Olson and the duo of Brayden Parman (Fr.-Beaver Dam, Wis.) and Meier earned 8-2 wins.
Up next for the Blugolds is a spring break trip to Hilton Head Island, S.C., where Eau Claire will play six matches in five days. The first contest is a match against Elmhurst College (Ill.) scheduled for noon (Eastern) on March 20.
