GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin men's tennis team opened the 2018 season on Saturday. The Knights opened the day with a 9-0 victory over Concordia and was nipped in the evening match against Augustana, 5-4. Augustana moves to 4-4 on the year and Concordia falls to 1-5.
"We had a lot of positives today," said head coach John Ross. "We started the day with some victories against Concordia. I was happy with how we played today against Augustana, we hung tough against a very good team."
The Knights started the day with a 9-0 sweep of Concordia of Ann Arbor.
The Cardinals could not field a full roster, so the Knights picked up points at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles by default.
The first victory of the day came at No. 1 doubles where junior Charlie Fahr (Milwaukee, Wis./Toas East) and sophomore Cobe Benzel (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas) swept Joel Werner and Ryan Curtis, 8-0.
At No. 2 doubles, freshman Avery Holt (Aurora, Ill./Matea Valley) and sophomore Kyrus Tsai (Glenbrook, Ill./Glenbrook South) bounced Jacob Baxter and John Clark, 8-1.
Sophomore Rodrigo Castellanos Vaca Guzmán (Tarija, Bolivia/Felipe Palazon) started singles play with a sweep over Jacob Baxter, 6-0, 6-0.
Junior Jose Larrea (Caracas, Venezuela/U.E. Colegio San Jose) rattled off a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles over Ryan Curtis.
Cobe Benzel broke Nicolas Munson at No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
Kyrus Tsai edged Joel Werner at No. 4 singles with a 6-3, 6-4 win.
Avery Holt brought out the broom to the Cardinals with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of John Clark at No. 5 singles.
Calvin finished the day against the Vikings of Augustana.
The Knights started the match with a victory at No. 2 doubles. The team of Rodrigo Castellanos Vaca Guzmán and senior David Brown (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) defeated Caio DeRezende and Rodrigo Medeiros, 8-4.
The Maroon and Gold came out on top of a battle at No. 3 doubles. Jose Larrea and Charlie Fahr won a tiebreaker at 8-6 to defeat Jack Morkin and Scott Daluga, 9-8.
Jose Larrea picked up the victory over Jack Morkin at No. 4 singles, 6-3, 6-1.
The final Calvin victory came at No. 6 singles with Charlie Fahr defeating Alex Riddle of Augustana, 7-6, 6-1.
The Vikings won the final two matches of the day to take the match.
Calvin returns to action on March 1 at Wisconsin Lutheran.
