If the play of the UC Men's Tennis team on Saturday is anything to gauge the chances of making it to the Sweet 16 this season, things really couldn't have gone any better. Charleston, the preseason pick to win the inaugural Mountain East Conference title swept Shepherd at the Charleston YMCA 9-0 to pick up their first conference victory of the season and extend their winning streak to two matches.

Shepherd, who was picked to finish 3^rd in the conference, came into the match with high hopes of pulling off the upset, but failed to notch a win in the opening doubles matches. James Gammell and Dennis Okoth cruised to a relatively quick 8-2 victory at 1^st doubles for UC, while seniors Matt Sherba and Davey Nelson dispatched Shepherd at 2^nd doubles 8-4. In 3^rd doubles, Jake Lorenz and Gabe Seymour were able to gain a break late to win 9-7.

In singles, the UC supporters didn't have to wait long to watch the best match of the afternoon. UC's James Gammell wore down Shepherd's Chris Pratt to win in a 3^rd set super tiebreaker 6-4,6-7, 10-8 after 2 hours of long grueling rallies that tested the endurance of both players at the 1^st singles position. The battle at 2^nd singles was short-lived, with Sherba defeating Shepherd's Michael Lasko 6-2, 6-2. Dennis Okoth's precise net play proved to be the difference at 3^rd singles as Charleston took that court 6-3, 6-4. In 4^th singles, Jake Lorenz was able to close out the in quick fashion after a close first set 7-5, 6-0. On the 5^th singles court, Charleston's Nick Bakos defeated Steven Lesko in a rematch of last year's battle at the 6 position that went to a super tiebreaker. Finally, at 6^th singles, Davey Nelson was able to rally from behind in both sets to win 7-5, 6-3.
           
Charleston's players were quite satisfied to win in such decisive fashion, "I think we have a really strong team this year and we wanted to come out and send a message to the rest of the conference that beating us is not going to be a walk in the park." said Nick Bakos after the match. Coach Santen also echoed his happiness with the day's results, "Each of our players today played with a great deal of heart and determination and I am very proud of our guys for producing a result like this." UC will enjoy the week off before heading to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina for spring break during which they will play 5 matches in 6 days before heading back to campus.