NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Augustana advanced to the championship round of the CCIW men's tennis tournament with a 5-2 win over Carthage Friday at North Central's Nike Complex. Coach Jon Miedema's top-seeded Vikings, now 17-10 on the season, move on to face the winner of Friday's Wheaton-North Central semifinal on Saturday, May 5, for the conference title.
 
Augustana jumped in front 2-1 after doubles play. Freshmen Peter Alex (Hinsdale South HS, Darien, Ill.) and Tom Friberg (Lund, Sweden) defeated Lukasz Jaworski and Fordy Leipold 8-2 at number two and junior Jack Morkin (University HS, Bloomington, Ill.) and freshman Caio DeRezende  (Sao Paulo, Brazil) were 8-5 winners over John Nykyforuk and Matt Krzewinski at number three. The Vikings' first doubles team of seniors Samuel Totten (University HS, Normal, Ill.) and Eric Pohl (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) fell 9-7 to Red Men Herman Abban and Daniel Moore.
 
Abban downed Totten 6-4, 6-1 at first singles, but Augustana closed things out with wins at numbers three, four and six. Peter was a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Jaworski at third singles and Pohl won 6-4, 6-3 over Nykyforuk at number four. Morkin clinched the victory with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Oscar Irazoque at number six.
 
When the dual ended, DeRezende and Moore were headed to a third after splitting 6-3 sets at second singles. At number five, freshman Rodrigo Medeiros (Brazil) claimed his first set with Krzewinski 6-4 and trailed 2-3 in the second.
 
Saturday's championship match is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Nike Park in Naperville, Illinois.