Carthage 6, UC-Santa Cruz 1
LAKE BLUFF – The Carthage men's tennis team hosted the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs on Friday evening in Illinois. It was a strong outing for the Firebirds as the team swept doubles play before using five strong performances in singles play to earn the win over the Banana Slugs.

 

In doubles play, Francisco Silveira and Ethan Foucheaux earned a 6-1 win in No. 3 doubles against Caden Wong and Spencer Hidas. Finn Morris and Diego Silva defeated Benjamin Wang and Rocco Melendez. Luca Okino and Victor Pimenta finished off the doubles sweep with a 6-3 win over Gavin Sonntag and Peter Liang in No. 2 doubles. The Firebirds took a 1-0 lead. 

In singles play, Cyriac Cayuela defeated Peter Liang 6-0, 6-3 in No. 4 singles to give the Firebirds a 2-0 lead. In No. 6 singles, Pimenta earned a 6-4, 6-1 against Hari Raghavan to extend the lead before Linus Bangert defeated Wong 7-5, 6-3. Silveira continued the run with a pair of 6-3 wins over Wang in No. 1 singles, while Silva used a pair of 6-4 victories to defeat Sonntag in No. 2 singles. Morris finished the dual with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 loss to Malendez as the Firebirds finished off the 6-1 victory over the Banana Slugs.


 
The Firebirds (13-3) return to action on Friday, April 3 as the team competes against Augustana (Ill.) at 4 p.m. in Rock Island, Ill. The Firebirds return home on April 10 to host Millikin at Smeds Tennis Center. For more information, visit athletics.carthage.edu.