CHENEY, Wash – The Eastern Washington University's men's tennis team had a perfect weekend after defeating San Diego Christian 7-0 and Spokane CC also 7-0. The Eagles move to 7-3 overall.
 
"I am very pleased with the fight and grit the team is displaying," head coach Steve Clark said. "Though we focus daily on perfect effort and always giving our best, we still have yet to have everyone playing well together and that fact we are winning while struggling a bit is good.  I was really pleased with guys who blew leads and came back to break and win matches, clinch tiebreaks and just remain persistent.  That is big."
 
Against San Diego Christian, the Eagles come out dominate in the doubles, winning the majority point for the match.
 
Senior Robert Dula started off the singles competition with a 6-1, 6-3 win over his opponent in the No. 1 spot. Junior Victor Pereira won in a battle, 6-4, 5-7, 11-9 defending his No. 2 spot.
 
Junior Scott Paz won his match with scores of 6-4 in both sets for the third spot.. Junior Flavien Raveau won in another battle, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Junior Ricardo Almeida won in a close 7-5 in the first set but came out dominate in the second set winning, 6-0. And Wacil Bendjelti finished off singles in the No. 6 spot by winning 6-1, 6-3.
 
In doubles, Dula and Pereira had a close match, but eventually fell 7-6 (8-6) to their opponent.  This was the lone loss for the Eagles as the two other doubles matches won. Paz and Raveau teamed up in the second spot, winning 6-3. Almeida and Bendjelti teamed up for the third spot winning 7-5.
 
Against Spokane CC the lineup was changed a little bit but still paid off for the Eagles.
 
Paz and Raveau teamed up in doubles and won 6-2 in the No. 1 spot. Dula and freshman Garner Sears played in the No. 2 spot and won at a perfect 6-0. Senior Luke Ness and Almeida played in the No. 3 spot and won 6-1. An extra doubles match was played and junior Vuk Vuckovic and Bendjelti teamed up for the exhibition and won 6-0.
 
In singles multiple Eastern athletes were able to finish at a perfect 6-0 in both sets. Dula won at a perfect 6-0 in both sets still in the No. 1 spot. Paz moved up to the No. 2 spot and won 6-2, 6-0. Bendjelti won in the No. 3 spot at a perfect 6-0 in both sets.
 
Vuckovic played in the No. 4 spot and won also at a perfect 6-0 in both sets. Senior Rendell Burghart played in the No. 5 spot and won 6-1, 6-0. Sophomore Junichi Minakata competed in the No. 6 spot and won 6-0, 6-1.

Two extra single matches were played as well. Freshman Devon Kashishan won 6-1, 7-5 in the exhibition match. Sears finished off the singles match with the last exhibtion, winning 6-0 in both sets.
 
"It was great to see Garner, JJ, Rendell and Devon compete and get wins as well," Clark said. "Some substantial improvement is noticeable.  Other coaches mentioned even how significantly Dula and Pereira have gotten since last year so it is noticeable. I always tell the guys, hard work always pays off even if it seems incremental to you at the time, to others seeing it, it is substantial."
 
The Eagles will continue competition at home on March 10 against Radford. Matches will begin at 3 p.m. in the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse.
 
"Overall, I am very pleased with a 7-0 win over a good NAIA squad," Clark added.  "It was nice to see all the guys compete to a 7-0 win during the match. It was a long but prosperous day winning every match except one doubles match. Time to take a short rest and get back to working on our games to get better for our next matches."
 
Comments from players:
 
Co-captain junior Victor Pereira: We are definitely getting better in doubles. Guys are fighting hard. But we have a lot of room for improvement all the way. We all can be way better players; we all have to have what coach talks about --growth mindset.
 
Co-captain senior Luke Ness: The guys have been giving strong efforts at practice and in the weight room. Everybody has been playing with a lot of confidence lately and we got a lot out of to the double header today. It was another chance to get in some match experience and prepare us for the upcoming big sky matches.