SIOUX FALLS, S.D.- The Augustana men's tennis team (3-1) travels to Sartell, Minn. this weekend for matches against Carleton College and St. Cloud State on Saturday at Fitness Evolution Tennis Center.  

Scouting the Competition
This will be the first ever meeting between the Vikings and the Knights. Carleton comes into this match with a 6-1 record on the season. The Knights lost their previous match 7-2 to Coe College. Carleton has a strong group starting with Kevin Mei who own a 4-1 record at No. 1 singles on the year. Two other Knights having good seasons are Patton McClelland and Andrew Qi. McClelland comes into the match with a 5-1 singles record, while Qi enters with a 4-1 record including going 3-0 at No. 2 singles. Christian Nagy and Jordon O'Kelly are the top doubles team for Carleton starting the season 4-1 at No. 1 doubles.

St. Cloud State will take on Carleton before the match against Augustana. The Huskies come in with a 3-1 record on the year. St. Cloud State last weekend defeated Michigan Tech 6-3 and Concordia-Moorhead 8-1. The Huskies are led by Marcelo Locatelli who is 2-1 in No. 1 singles this season. Locatelli and his doubles partner Joao Souto are 4-0 at No. 1 doubles this year. Lucas Norbiato and Nathanial Cherry are key components for this St. Cloud squad. Norbiato is a perfect 4-0 in singles matches this season. Cherry comes in at 3-0 in singles and 3-1 in No. 3 doubles. Last year St. Cloud State defeated Augustana twice winning 9-0 in Sartell and 8-1 in Sioux Falls.

Augustana goes 2-0 over the weekend
Augustana went 2-0 last weekend with a 9-0 victory over Morningside and a 6-3 win over Hasting.

On Friday, the No. 1 doubles team of Jared Hofer and Zach Adkins would win 8-3 over Danny Graves and Brandon Stoll. Joe Sawatzke and Reed Ritterbusch would win a tough 8-4 match in No. 2 doubles over Pedro Pinassi and Akshay Krishna. Austin VanDerWeide and Trae Olson completed the doubles sweep with a 8-4 victory over Trung Ho and Eamon Adamson.

Hofer continued the momentum for the Vikings with a 6-2, 7-6 victory over Pinassi at No. 1 singles. Sawatzke lost the first set to Stoll 4-6, but came back to take the next two sets 7-6, 10-8 to gain the victory at No. 3 singles.

On Saturday, In doubles matches, the No. 1 doubles team of Jared Hofer and Zach Adkins won 8-3 over Razvan Dobrin and Matt case. Joe Sawatzke and Reed Ritterbusch would win a tough 8-6 match in No. 2 doubles over Mark Gueswell to give Augustana two doubles point.

Hasting would get their lone doubles point with a win in No. 3 doubles.

The Vikings would win four singles matches. Adkins would get a 6-0, 6-1 win in No. 2 singles over Dobrin. Sawatzke was victorious in No. 3 singles against Burns 6-4, 6-1. Andrew Johnson defeated Ben Petry in No. 5 singles. Johnson lost the first set 3-6 but came back to win the next two sets 6-4, 10-3. Mark DeSpiegler gain Augustana's fourth singles victory of the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win in No. 6 singles

Leading the Charge  
Head Coach Marc Kurtz returns for his 12th season at the helm of the Augustana men's tennis program. Under Kurtz, the Vikings have posted a 49-98 record. The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference does not sponsor men's tennis.

Second Serve
Augustana travels to Storm Lake, Iowa next weekend as they matchup against University of Dubuque and Buena Vista.