RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s tennis team swept the bottom four singles matches in straight sets on the way to a 5-2 win over Jacksonville State Friday afternoon. The Colonels (9-11, 4-1 OVC) have now four straight OVC matches since dropping their opener to Austin Peay.

Sophomore Juanjo de la Llera (No. 3), freshman Lucas Smets (No. 4), junior Joao Maio (No. 5) and freshman Florian Graskamp (No. 6) each prevailed in two sets to secure the team victory. Maio leads the team with an overall 10-4 singles record this spring while both Maio and Graskamp remain perfect in OVC matches.

“Up to this point, this is one of the biggest wins of the year for the guys,” Eastern head coach Rob Oertel said. “Obviously bigger matches are coming, but our depth is really starting to show in conference play.”

Eastern Kentucky concludes its home schedule tomorrow against Tennessee Tech. Match time is set for 11 a.m.

Eastern Kentucky 5, Jacksonville State 2

Singles
1. Igor Santos (JSU) def. Daridge Saidi (EKU)   6-4, 6-2
2. Axel Sundberg (JSU) def. Alex Alvaro (EKU)   3-6, 7-6, (12-10)
3. Juanjo de la Llera (EKU) def. Nenad Marcec (JSU)  6-3, 6-3
4. Lucas Smets (EKU) def. Felipe Diaz (JSU)   6-2, 6-3
5. Joao Maio (EKU) def. Felipe Wenzel (JSU)   6-3, 6-4
6. Florian Graskamp (EKU) def. Felipe Watanabe (JSU)  6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. Marcec/Sundberg (JSU) def. Alvaro/Saidi (EKU)  8-5
2. de la Llera/Maio (EKU) def. Santos/Wenzel (JSU)  9-8 (5)
3. Dombrowski/Smets (EKU) def. Diaz/Watanabe (JSU)  9-8 (1)

Match Notes: Eastern Kentucky (9-11, 4-1); Jacksonville State (6-10, 2-1)
Order of Finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (4, 3, 1, 5*, 6, 2)