OMAHA, NEB. - The Western Illinois men's tennis team continued its road-trip in Omaha Saturday (Feb. 7) afternoon, as the Leathernecks took on the Creighton Bluejays. Christoph Haertel's victory at No. 1 singles was not enough as the Leathernecks fell 6-1. Western moves to 0-4 (0-1 Summit League) on the year while Creighton remains perfect at 4-0.

"This afternoon we began with a higher level of intensity in both singles and doubles" said head coach Mashiska Washington. "At No. 1 doubles, each team had match points, but ultimately Creighton was victorious. The day ended with Christoph (Haertel) having a big win at No. 1 singles, along with competitive play form all of our players."

In doubles action, it looked like the duo of Haertel and Nikola Pavlovic would pick up a victory at the No. 1 spot, as they had match point against the duo of Norman and Baker. Ultimately, the match would go to a tiebreaker, with Creighton emerging with a 12-10 tiebreaker victory. The Bluejays secured the doubles point with 6-0 victories over Western's teams of Bunch/Sawhney and Sanders/Smith at the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively.

Haertel headlined the singles action as he collected a straight-sets victory over Creighton's Jake Norman. Haertel picked up a break in the opening set en route to a 6-4 victory. In the second set, Haertel closed things out with 6-3 victory.

Pavolovic had a hard fought match at No. 2 singles, as he ultimately fell by a 6-3, 6-2 score to Quinn Dippel. Elsewhere, Surya Sawhney, Jacob Sanders, and Ross Smith, dropped 6-0, 6-0 decisions at singles spots 2, 3, and 4. Creighton picked up a default win at No. 6 singles after Chris Bunch had to retire due to the start of singles action.

Western Illinois will play its third match in as many days as the team will travel to Edwardsville, Illinois, to take on Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. First serve is set for 2 p.m.