O'FALLON, Ill. – The 43rd-ranked McKendree University men's tennis team continued its strong play in Great Lakes Valley Conference action here Friday afternoon as the Bearcats collected a 4-1 victory over 50th-ranked Southwest Baptist at the St. Clair Tennis Center.
 
With the victory, the Bearcats improved to 14-2 overall and 3-1 in the GLVC, while SBU fell to 8-11 overall and 2-2 in the league. McKendree has now won two straight and seven of their last eight matches overall.
 
"I'm very proud of our team. We fought hard today and got the job done," said McKendree junior men's tennis captain Leonardo Frederico (Tujucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/UniCesumar). "The effort that we have been putting on practice is paying off and I hope we keep the same energy for tomorrow's match."
 
Friday's match was the first of two matches this weekend for McKendree as they travel to Evansville for an 11 a.m. match on Saturday against the University of Southern Indiana.
 
In Friday's match, the Bearcats lost the doubles point as SBU would collect wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to take a 1-0 lead in the 'Battle of the Bearcats' match.
 
McKendree's lone win in doubles came at the No. 1 spot as Frederico and graduate student Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Belgium/University of Tulsa), who are ranked 40th in Division II doubles, picked up a 6-2 win over SBU's nationally 21st-ranked duo of Alvaro Nunez and Youssef Nabil. The win improved the McKendree No. 1 doubles team record to 15-2 on the season.
 
Following the completion of doubles play, the Bearcats would seal the match win by winning four singles matches. The other two matches were not finished when the home team Bearcats sealed its fourth point of the match.
 
In singles, McKendree picked up its first point at the No. 2 spot as Kamdem, who is ranked 74th in Division II singles, picked up a 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) win over 45th-ranked Nabil to tie the match at 1-all. Kamdem improved to 13-4 on the season, including being 10-3 at the No. 2 spot.
 
Sophomore Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, India/Saraswathi Kendra) gave McKendree a 2-1 lead in the match following his win in three sets at the No. 3 spot over SBU's David Szeri. Paramasivan lost the first set, 6-3, but he rally to win the second set 7-5 to set up a third set. In the third set, Paramasivan picked up a 7-5 win to earn the point.
 
The third singles win for McKendree came at the No. 1 spot from Frederico, who is ranked 57th in Division II singles, as he picked up a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over Makary Adamek. The win improved Frederico's record to 15-4 on the season and the victory was also his seventh straight win on the year.
 
Sophomore Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) sealed the match victory for McKendree thanks to his 6-2, 6-3 win at the No. 4 spot over Carlos Corser. Reddy improved to 13-3 on the season in singles and he is now 10-2 on the year at No 4 singles.
 
The other two matches at No. 5 and No. 6 were both in the second set when Reddy sealed the match win for the home team. Senior Vishnu Prasad (Chennai, India/National Institute of Open Schooling) was leading 6-2, 5-1 at the No. 5 spot, while junior Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) lost the first set, 6-2 and was tied 4-4 in the second set at No. 6 singles.