The UW-Eau Claire men’s tennis team sealed a 9-0 sweep – its third straight – against Loras College (Iowa) Saturday morning at the McPhee Physical Education Center.

The win brings the Blugolds past the .500 mark at 4-3 overall this spring after dropping three of their first four contests to out-of-state schools.

“It’s infinitely better when you’re on the winning end (of a sweep),” head coach Tom Gillman said.

Loras drops to 0-3 this year. Gillman said Loras is missing some key players from matchups last year, which could have held back their doubles play.

The Blugolds will face off against Milwaukee School of Engineering Saturday afternoon. Gillman said he’ll try to rotate in players that didn’t get much court time Saturday morning, or Friday against St. Norbert College.

“(MSOE has) some nice players at the top of their order,” Gilman said. “So we’ve got to be aware of that.”

Gilman said the freshman duo of Austin Auleta and Michael Mauthe was strong on doubles Saturday. Auleta and Mauthe knocked off a Loras pair 8-0, and Mauthe scooped up a singles win 6-1, 6-0 to close out the matchup.

“We have a young team,” Gilman said. “There’s no substitute for matchplay. We’ve just got to keep throwing them out there. There’s some pretty darn good maturity for a team this young.”