Lyssa Beyer

The UW-Eau Claire men’s tennis team went 3-0 in its last home meet of the season this past weekend. The Blugolds defeated St. Norbert College 9-0 Friday night, Lawrence University 7-2, and Bethel University 6-3 Saturday in the Ade Olson Addition of McPhee Center. The Blugold’s moved to 10-2 on the season and have won four in a row and nine of their last 10.

“I think it really shows this team’s perseverance, it shows that we might be down but we’re never out,” freshman Lars Olson said after his 3-0 weekend.

Junior Steve Lantz went undefeated this weekend, winning at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1 against St. Norbert, 6-4, 7-6 at No. 1 singles against Bethel, and 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles against Lawrence. Olson also went undefeated, with wins at No. 2 singles (7-5, 6-4) against St. Norbert, No.3 singles (7-6, 6-4) against Bethel, and No.3 singles (6-0, 6-2) against Lawrence.

“I thought we played pretty good, and won a lot of the close matches due to our great team chemistry,” said Aaron Johnson.

“Earlier in the year we worked on tiebreaker situations, and this weekend we went 6-3 in tie-breaks, so working on tie breaks really helped,” Olson said.

In doubles, the duo of Johnson and Senior C.J. Rose didn’t drop a match this weekend. They won at No. 3 doubles 8-5 against St. Norbert, at No. 2 doubles 8-0 against Lawrence, and at No. 3 doubles 8-6 against Bethel. Partners Steve Lantz, junior, and sophomore Phil Loprinzi had a solid showing at the No. 1 doubles spot in each match, going 2-1 and with wins of 8-6 against St. Norbert, and 8-3 against Bethel, while falling to Lawrence 8-4.

“We need to keep up the hard work in practice and really focus and get ready for this weekends tough opponents in Sioux Falls and Gustavus,” Olson said.

Next weekend the Blugold’s travel to St. Peter, Minn., to face NAIA 24th-ranked University of Sioux Falls at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and NCAA No. 2 ranked Gustavus Adolphus at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“We are going to practice with a lot more intensity to prepare for this weekend’s matches,” Johnson said. “But I think that if Gustavus plays their non-starters against us that might be a mistake.”