The Eau Claire men’s tennis team went to Decorah, Iowa during the weekend to take on a couple of out-of-state rivals.

After sweeping University of Minnesota-Morris 7-0, the Blugolds edged host Luther College, 4-3, to escape Iowa with two wins.

The Blugolds started quickly in the Luther match, sweeping the three doubles matches to take the early lead.

“Going in with the doubles point was big,” sophomore Andrew Kalio said. “It gave us confidence going into the singles matches.”

After securing the point for the doubles matches, Eau Claire needed only to split the singles competition to earn the win, and that is exactly what it did.

Junior Bob Yunker beat Luther’s Arvid von Taube, 6-2, 6-2; freshman Jon Snodgrass topped Gordy Hunter, 6-3, 0-6, 6-1; and freshman Matt Widder defeated Scott Reinschmidt, 6-2, 6-2, to help lead Eau Claire to victory.

Last year, Luther won the doubles competition in the match against Eau Claire, allowing the Blugolds to win four of the six singles matches and escape with the win.

“It helped that we only needed to win three of the singles matches,” Snodgrass said. “It was a pretty big win against a team that was just above .500.”

Earlier on Saturday, Eau Claire outplayed Morris by a 7-0 score, which was the same score by which Luther defeated Morris.

“We went in playing well, and we overmatched them,” Kalio said.

Snodgrass also said the Blugolds played well against Morris.

“Overall, everyone came out and played well, and we whipped them,” he said.

The victories over the weekend improved Eau Claire’s dual meet record for the spring to 11-10.

The next match for Eau Claire will be played in Whitewater on Friday against UW-Oshkosh, followed by a pair of matches on the Saturday against UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse. These three matches will be Eau Claire’s first against conference opponents this spring.

“We’re looking forward to playing Oshkosh,” Kalio said. “Last year they won the conference, and they didn’t graduate anybody, so it should be a really good match.”

“All the matches are going to be tough,” he added. “We’ll need to play good tennis.”

Oshkosh will head into the weekend matches with a dual meet record of 12-6, with Whitewater standing at 11-2 and La Crosse with a record of 13-2.

Last year, Eau Claire fell to Oshkosh, 5-2, but the Blugolds beat Whitewater and La Crosse by identical 5-2 scores.

The Blugolds will hope to carry over the momentum they gained in Iowa into the conference matches in Whitewater.

“We have been playing well,” Kalio said. “We’re clicking right now.”