MOUNT VERNON, Iowa -- The Augustana Vikings men's tennis team earned a pair of wins on Saturday in the state of Iowa, defeating the Coe Kohawks by a score of 5-4 before knocking off the Cornell Rams by a final of 8-1.

In their first match of the day against Coe, the Vikings fell behind early after dropping two of three doubles matches. Augie salvaged a point at the No. 2 position as Gabriel Luna and Nicolas Navarro earned a hard-fought 8-6 victory. 

Needing four wins to take the match, the Vikings grabbed four singles wins exactly, led by victories at the No. 1 and 2 positions from Arthur Hermange and Quentin Essayie. Hermange defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-4, while Essayie battled back from a first set loss to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Deepak Vayara had a similar battle at No. 4, coming back from a first-set deficit to win in three, while Luna took two very close sets at No. 5 to help seal the match for Augustana.

The Vikings got off to a much cleaner start to begin their second contest of the day at Cornell, winning all three doubles matches for the early 3-0 advantage. The duos of Hermange and Luna at No. 1 and Timothee Philip and Arthur Mendes at No. 2 each won their matches by a score of 8-4, while Jesse Dyer and Vayara were victorious at No. 3 by a score of 8-3.

Augustana took five of six singles matches to complete the win. All five wins came in consecutive sets, with Navarro posting a perfect 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 4. Luna and Eliot Saint-Paul also posted clean sets in their victories at No. 3 and No. 5.

With the wins, the Vikings improve to 2-2 on the year. The team will take on Hope on the road on Saturday, March 11 for their next outing. Start time is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. CST.