ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – A lineup that was missing four probable starters and a slow start in doubles didn't seem to hinder the Augustana men's tennis team on Friday, September 29 in a non-conference dual match with Quad City rival St. Ambrose. The Vikings blanked the Fighting Bees by a score of 9-0 at the Lower Campus Courts.
 
Head coach Jon Miedema took three starters, senior Samuel Totten (University HS, Normal, Ill.) and freshmen Caio DeRezende (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Peter Alex (Hinsdale South HS, Darien, Ill.) to the ITA Fall Regional in Kalamazoo, Michigan while senior Eric Pohl (Fremd HS, Palatine, Ill.) is still recovering from a foot injury. The loss of those four players did not slow Augustana down in its first dual meet of the 2017-18 season.
 
The Vikings won all three doubles matches but numbers two and three were close for a while. The number one team of junior Jack Morkin (Normal University HS, Bloomington, Ill.) and freshman Rodrigo Medeiros (Brazil) crushed Jake Anderson and Jake Temple 8-2 to get off the court quickly. The number two team of sophomore Scott Daluga (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) and freshman Guilherme Calixto (Presidente Prudente, Brazil) finished off Michael Allee and Matt Zuccato 8-4 after the match was close early. At number three the team of freshman Joseph Shie (Davenport Central HS, Davenport, Iowa) and sophomore Ryan Sullivan (Gow School, Winnetka, Ill.) finished with a flourish to beat Daniel Rohlf and Bradley Wheeler 8-6 after trailing 6-5.
 
In singles none of the matches were really close.
 
Morkin beat Anderson 6-1; 6-1 at number one and Calixto shut out Dan Daluga 6-0; 6-0. Medeiros beat Allee, the son of former Augustana head coach Bill Allee, 6-1; 6-2 at number three and Shie beat Rohlf 6-1; 6-0 at number four. Freshman Tom Friberg (Lund, Sweden) defeated Wheeler 6-0; 6-0 at number five and Daluga took care of Colin Stidefer 6-0; 6-1 at number six.
 
Augustana will not be in action again until January 27 when it hosts Wabash at the Quad City Tennis Center.