April 9, 2016 - The CUC men's tennis team made their season debut today under new head coach Mandy Semenik. They jumped right into action against two Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opponents and came away with a 1-1 split.

The action started in the morning as the Cougars topped Lakeland College 7-0 under the roof of the Kohler Sports Core in Kohler, WI. Returners Ariel Manjarrez (Berwyn, IL/Morton West) and Alex Vieaux (Park Forest, IL/Illinois Lutheran) played the top two singles flights, and both came away with 6-0, 6-0 sweeps of their opponents. Senior Niko Vercelletto (Babylon, NY/West Babylon) won a 7-5, 6-3 battle over Carlos Rodriguez at third. Two newcomers played at four and five, and both won their initial collegiate matches. Mark Knight (Lyons, IL/Morton West) lost his first set at number four 5-7 but regrouped and came back to take the next two sets, 6-2 and 10-5. Parker Lloyd (Sandy, UT/Hillcrest) won his match at number five, 6-0 and 6-4 over Dylan Skewis.

At doubles, Manjarrez and Vieaux played the number one flight and defeated Greg Boknewitz and Jared Nummerdor 8-1. The two freshmen, Knight and Lloyd, posted an 8-2 win over Rodriguez and Skewis at number two.

The afternoon match against Concordia University Wisconsin was played at the Pleasant Valley Tennis and Fitness Center in Jackson, WI. Unfortunately, the Cougars came out on the wrong end of a 9-0 score in this one. Manjarrez and Vieaux lost their singles matches by 6-1, 6-2 scores while the remaining singles and the two doubles tandems were all blanked.

Concordia-Chicago returns to River Forest to host its first home match on Monday against Judson University.