MACOMB, Ill.- The Western Illinois men's tennis team improved its record to 9-5 on the season with a 7-0 victory over Lewis.

"This was a tough match to play today," said Western Illinois head coach Michael Hunt. "(Coach) Brett Bridel runs a good program up at Lewis, but they have three players ineligible right now and it's definitely affected their depth quite a bit. We're happy to have played well and won, but we recognize that this wasn't Lewis at their best."

The Leathernecks started the day by sweeping all three doubles matches to take the doubles point from the Flyers (0-11). Juniors Zach Frisch (Kansas City, Mo./Rockhurst/Johnson County CC) and Neil Lesinski (Grayslake, Ill./Grayslake) defeated Ben Karas and Doug Fritz, 8-1, at No. 1 doubles. The duo now stand at 7-3 on the Spring season. Senior Michael Tiu and junior Michael Schild bettered the No. 1 doubles team, beating Chris Meyer and Christian Nunez at No. 2 doubles, 8-0.

Western swept all six singles matches, only dropping two games in the process. Freshman Francisco Ortiz (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Colegio Unificado Iquatemi), junior Sean Ragee-Nelson (Decatur, Ill./MacArthur), and junior Andy Jones (Huntsville, Texas/Huntsville/Howard Payne) each won their matches, 6-0, 6-0. Ortiz defeated Bret Mega at No. 3 singles, Ragee-Nelson defeated Nunez at No. 4 singles, and Jones beat Meyer at the No. 5 singles spot.

Also winning for the Leathernecks in singles play was Frisch (No. 1, 6-0, 6-1), Lesinski (No. 2, 6-1, 6-0), and Tiu (No. 6, default).

"Hopefully, this helps prepare us for conference play this weekend," Hunt stated. "I think we're pretty pumped and ready to get to it with IPFW on Friday."

Western will look to qualify for The Summit League tournament as it plays its final conference matches of the regular season when it hosts a Summit League cluster April 11-13.

Western Illinois 7, Lewis 0
Singles
1. Zach Frisch (WIU) def. Ben Karas 6-0, 6-1
2. Neil Lesinski (WIU) def. Doug Fritz 6-1, 6-0
3. Francisco Ortiz (WIU) def. Bret Mega 6-0, 6-0
4. Sean Ragee-Nelson (WIU) def. Christian Nunez 6-0, 6-0
5. Andy Jones (WIU) def. Chris Meyer 6-0, 6-0
6. Michael Tiu (WIU) won by default

Doubles
1. Frisch/Lesinski (WIU) def. Karas/Fritz 8-1
2. Tiu/Michael Schild (WIU) def. Meyer/Nunez 8-0
3. Bostrom/Ragee-Nelson (WIU) won by default