SIU men’s tennis (14-2) won its seventh match in a row on Saturday with a 7-0 sweep over Eastern Kentucky.

The men didn’t lose a single match or set, showing complete dominance throughout.

“Our confidence as a team is very high,” senior Piotr Baranski said. “We practice a lot, we practice hard, and then our efforts reflect the game we play, the matches we play.”

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Junior Alex Pozo and Baranski played position one doubles and set the tone early by winning 6-3. At position two doubles, junior Michal Kianicka and junior Peter Molloy won 6-4. At position three doubles, senior Wilder Pimentel and freshman Param Pun won 6-2.

Baranski attributes the team’s success to how hard they work.

“Our team is very close to each other,” the junior from Poland said. “We compete hard [against] each other in practice, but out of practice we’re very good friends.”

At position one in singles, Pimentel won his match 6-2, 6-3.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Senior Piotr Baranski reacts to a point during his singles match at SIU’s 7-0 win against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, March 25, 2017, at Garden Grove Event Center in Carbondale. (Jacob Wiegand | @jawiegandphoto)

The Saluki women’s tennis team ( 6-9, 0-1 MVC) didn’t have as much success in its first conference match against last year’s Missouri Valley Conference champions — Wichita State — losing 5-2 to the Shockers.

The Salukis won two out of the three doubles matches against WSU.

Seniors Meagan Monaghan and junior Vitoria Beirao fell 6-4 at the position one doubles spot to Wichita.

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At position two doubles, junior Xiwei Cai and senior Ana Sofia Cordero were able to even things up by winning 6-4.

The doubles point fell to senior Polina Dozortseva and sophomore Tereza Klocova, who were able to win 7-6 (6) to clinch the doubles point for the Salukis.

The Shockers then took control by winning the the next four singles matches to secure the victory.

The first and only singles win came from junior Athena Chrysanthou who won the first set 7-5 and was winning the second set 3-2 until her opponent retired because of a muscle cramp.

The men play their final home and first conference match of the season at 10 a.m. against Wichita State Saturday.

The women compete at 4 p.m. Sunday against the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, in a non-conference match.

Staff writer Jonathan Thompson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @TheReal_Jt3.

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