O'FALLON, Ill. – The McKendree University men's tennis team moved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the spring season following its 6-1 win here Friday over the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) at the St. Clair Tennis Center.

"UMSL is always a tough opponent. We performed well in doubles and clinched the match decisively, but have a lot of work ahead to close the gap between where we are and where we want to be," McKendree head coach René Vidal said following the match. 
 
McKendree got things starting by sweeping all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. The first win in doubles came from the No. 3 spot of junior Ryan Fung (Miami, Fla./Palmetto Senior) and sophomore Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, India/National Institute of Open Schooling) picked up a 6-2 win over AJ Bower and Juan Vigil.
 
The second doubles win came at the No. 2 spot as sophomore Nanase Ebisu (Osaka, Japan/Hawai'i Pacific) and junior Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin) won 6-4 over Jose Mayorga and Raphael Kerndl.
 
McKendree's No. 1 team of junior Leonardo Frederico (Tujucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/UniCesumar) and graduate student Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Beligium/Tulsa) won 7-6 (7-5) over Marcos Navas and Karl Heinrichs.
 
After completing doubles action, the two teams turned their attention to singles play.
 
In singles, Paramasivan picked up a 6-3, 6-2 win over Vigil at the No. 3 spot to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Frederico, who is ranked seventh in the ITA/Oracle Midwest Regional player rankings, gave the Bearcats a 3-0 lead in the match following his 6-3, 6-2 win Navas at the No. 1 spot.
 
Kamdem would seal the win for the McKendree with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Mayorga at the No. 2 spot to give the Bearcats a 4-0 lead in the match.
 
McKendree's final singles win came at the No. 6 spot from del Biondo as he earned a 6-2, 6-2 win over Bower.
 
UMSL (0-1) would pick up their two wins in singles at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots as Kerndl defeated Ebisu in a third-set tiebreaker (6-4, 1-6, 10-8) at the No. 4 spot and Heinrichs picked up a 6-4, 7-5 win over Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) at the No. 5 spot.
 
The Bearcats will return to the courts on Sunday, Feb. 27 as they host Webster University for an 8:30 p.m. match at the St. Clair Tennis Center in O'Fallon, Ill.