NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Augustana got off to a quick start in the 2018 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Men's Tennis Tournament. The Vikings, who are the number one seed in field after finishing first in the regular season with a 6-1 league record, defeated Elmhurst 5-0 in opening round play on Thursday, May 3 at the Nike Sports Complex in Naperville, Illinois.
 
Head Coach Jon Miedema's team made short work of the short-handed Bluejays.
 
The Vikings got out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles round was over. The freshman duo of Peter Alex (Hinsdale South HS, Darien, Ill.) and Tom Friberg (Lund, Sweden) beat Shawn Sabaricos and David Demoll 8-5 at number one. Junior Jack Morkin (University HS, Bloomington, Ill.) and senior Eric Pohl (Fremd HS, Palatine, Ill.) defeated Grant O'Connell and Nico Favuzzi 8-2 t number two. The Augustana number three team of freshmen Caio DeRezende (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Rodrigo Medeiros (Brazil) picked up a forfeit as the Bluejays did not have enough players to field all three doubles teams.
 
In singles the Vikings picked up a forfeit at number six when there was no opponent for sophomore Ryan Sullivan (Gow School, Winnetka, Ill.). The only singles match that was played to completion was at number four where Medeiros beat Favuzzi 6-0; 6-0. That clinched the match and pushed Augustana into the next round against the winner of the Carthage/Millikin match.
 
Freshman Guilherme Calixto (Presidente Prudente, Brazil) was ahead of Tavious Imperial 6-; 4-0 t number five when the match was stopped. Pohl was leading 6-3 after one set at number three against O'Connell and Alex was up on Sabaricos 6-2 at number two. DeRezende had not yet finished his first set again Demoll and was ahead 5-3 at number one.
 
Augustana is now 16-10 overall while Elmhurst fell to 0-16.