GRINNELL, Iowa – Augustana College men's tennis split on the road dropping to Grinnell College 5-4 then defeated Central College 9-0 on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings improve to 3-4 on the season.

Grinnell 5, Augustana 4
The Vikings took one of the three doubles matches, led by Jared Hofer and Collin Noldner with a close 8-4 victory over Rob Storrick and Cale Bryson of Grinnell. Augsutana dropped the next two doubles matches.

Trailing the Pioneers' 2-1 entering singles play, Hofer earned a tight win over Carlie Wilhelm in three sets 6-4, 5-7, and 10-6 at No. 1 singles. Noldner dropped the No. 2 singles match with a 6-3, 6-1 loss over C.J. Ray.

Zach Adkins earned his third single win of the year with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at No. 3. Teammate Jackson Buchanan dominated the No. 4 singles with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 victory over Cale Bryson.

Reed Ritterbusch would drop at the No. 5 singles with a 6-4, 6-1 loss and Mark DeSpiegler lost in three sets to Kumar Caleb at the No. 6 singles by scores of 6-4, 4-6, and 10-4.

Augustana 9, Central College 0
The Vikings snapped its four match losing streak with a 9-0 victory over Central College in the 12 p.m. match. Augustana opened with three convincing doubles victories.

Hofer and Noldner downed their opponents as the top doubles team winning a close 8-6 match. Adkins and Buchanan finished 2-0 on the day at the No. 2 doubles spot with an 8-1 performance. DeSpiegler and Trae Olson pushed the Vikings lead to 3-0 to head into singles with an 8-4 win.

Hofer captured his third consecutive victory at the No. 1 singles with a straight-set victory of 6-4, 6-4. Noldner answered at the No. 2 singles spot with a 6-2, 6-1 win and Adkins posted a 6-1, 6-3 win in the third singles flight.

The last three matches would all come in three-set victories starting with Buchanan rolling to a 6-1, 4-6, and 10-5 win at No. 4 singles and Ritterbusch registered a 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 win in the fifth singles flight. DeSpiegler put the finishing touches on Augustana's rout with a 2-6, 6-3, and 10-6 win.

Augustana now heads back on the road to Storm Lake, Iowa to take on Grand View and Buena Vista on Feb. 28.