SURPRISE, Ariz. - The Concordia Clippers men's tennis team swept No. 47 Mercyhurst University on Wednesday in their NCAA Round of 16 match, 5-0, to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals and one step closer to the program's first-ever national championship.
The match began with doubles action as the No. 2 duo of freshman Axel Oljons (Stockholm, Sweden) and freshman William Nilsson (Bastad, Sweden) began with an 8-5 win against Ruairidh Fraser and Unai Amilleta Gonzalez. The No. 3 duo of freshman Michele Fenoaltea (Rome, Italy) and freshman Henry Masters (Northampton, England) followed with an 8-1 victory against Sebastian Pardo and Luka Veselic while juniors Eymeric Chevalier (Bordeaux, France) and Alessandro Evangelisti (Latina, Italy) completed the doubles sweep for Concordia with an 8-5 win in the No. 1 match against Nenad Terzic and Cormac McCooey.
In singles play Fenoaltea gave the Clippers their fourth victory as he defeated Veselic in the No. 6 match 6-0, 6-1. Nilsson's match would clinch the win for Concordia as he topped McCooey 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 3 match. The remaining matches would go unfinished.
The Clippers (17-4) will next battle No. 1 Barry University in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Thursday beginning at 12 p.m. EDT. Concordia is looking to advance to the NCAA Semi-Finals for the first time since 2013.