MOLINE, Ill. – It didn't take long for the Augustana men's tennis team to get back on the winning track. After dropping a hard-fought 5-4 decision to Grinnell in the morning on Saturday, February 15 at the Quad City Tennis Club, the Vikings bounced back with a 9-0 whitewash of St. Ambrose in the afternoon.
 
Augustana, which is now 4-2 on the young season, will host nationally ranked University of Chicago on Sunday, February 16 at the Quad City Tennis Club.
 
GRINNELL 5, AUGUSTANA 4
 
Grinnell won two of the three doubles matches and that proved to be the difference as the Pioneers picked up a 5-4 win over the Vikings. Each team won three singles matches.
 
Junior Lawrence Palmer (Schiller International School, El Prat de Llobregat, Spain) and senior Andy Wall (Notre Dame Academy, DePere, Wis.) continued their fine play at number one doubles with an 8-4 win over Tommy Pitcher and Elliott Czarnecki.  Palmer and Wall are now 5-3 on the season.
 
Augustana's number two team of seniors Kevin Bayles (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Flossmoor, Ill.) and Colin Arnold (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) lost a narrow 9-8 decision over Emilio Gomez and Tracy Johnson at number two. Freshman Connor Woolf (Evanston HS, Evanston, Ill.) and sophomore Austin Schoeck (Rock Island Alleman HS, Rock Island, Ill.) fell 8-5 at number three to Cole Miller and C.J. Ray.
 
Palmer beat Czarnecki at number one singles by scores of 6-4; 7-5 and Wall took care of Emilio Gomez 6-3; 6-1 at number two. The Vikings' other singles victory came at number four where Arnold beat Pitcher 6-3; 7-6.
 
AUGUSTANA 9, ST. AMBROSE 0
 
The Vikings rolled over the Fighting Bees, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after doubles and not looking back. In the three doubles matches Augustana lost a total of two games. Wall and Palmer beat Mitch Schumacher and Sam O'Donnell 8-1 and Bayles and Arnold handled Luke Powell and Brandyn Ambrosy 8-0. Schoeck teamed with freshman Jonathon Elsey (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.) at number three and that duo beat John Rohlf and Kevin Beckett 8-1.
 
Wall moved up to number one in singles play and beat Schumacher 6-4; 6-2. Bayles slid into the number two position and beat Rohlf 6-0; 6-1. Arnold won 6-0; 6-2 against O'Donnell at number three.
 
Woolf beat Powell 6-0; 6-1 at number four and senior Grant Wick (Windsor HS, Fort Collins, Colo.) defeated Ambrosy 6-0; 6-2 at number five. At number six, sophomore Patrick Lenz (Villanova Prep, Ojai, Calif.) took care of Beckett 6-0; 6-0.