LAKEVILLE, Minn. – The University of Northwestern men's tennis team opened up the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) portion of its schedule on Saturday with a doubleheader against the College of St. Scholastica and North Central University at Lifetime Fitness. The Eagles lost their first match of the day to the Saints, 9-0, before defeating the Rams by the same score.

Northwestern-St. Scholastica Results

UNW didn't get very far against the Saints, who have won 17 straight UMAC regular season titles. The Eagles were on the losing side of all three doubles matches, with the No. 2 contest featuring Northwestern's Levi Busse (Amery, Wis./Amery) and Agassi Mila (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) being the closest on the scoreboard in an 8-4 finish. UNW's No. 1 doubles pair of Jimmy Ekman (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) and Phil Gudim lost their match 8-3.

Ekman was the only Northwestern player to get any traction on the singles end, as the Eagles senior came close to a set victory before ultimately falling to the Saints' Josh Stainer 6-2, 7-5. Gudim, Busse and Mila all took two points off of their St. Scholastica counterpart.

Northwestern rebounded from the loss with a convincing 9-0 victory against North Central.

Northwestern-North Central Results

In doubles play, the Eagles put themselves in the driver's seat with a trio of wins. Ekman and Gudim won 8-5 at No. 1, followed by an 8-4 victory by Busse and Mila in the No. 2 match. The Grasto brothers – Trevor and Cole – had the biggest margin of victory on the night as they defeated the Rams' Joshua Lee and Jordan Harrell 8-1.

In singles action, both Ekman and Cole Grasto (Big Lake, Minn./Big Lake) were good for 6-0, 6-0 sweeps while Trevor Grasto (Big Lake, Minn./Big Lake) defeated Lee 6-1, 6-0.

The win was UNW's second on the year, bumping the Eagles' overall record up to 2-10 while Northwestern starts its UMAC schedule 1-1.

Next up on Northwestern's schedule is another Saturday doubleheader next week on April 5 against Bethany Lutheran College and the University of Minnesota Morris.