MIAMISBURG, Ohio – The University of Dayton men's tennis team went 2-0 on Friday in two matches at South Regency Tennis center in Miamisburg. The Flyers took down Cedarville 5-0 early in the day before coming back for a night match against Bellarmine and claiming a 6-1 victory.
 
"Great day for Flyer tennis," head coach Ryan Meyer said. "I was very pleased with both performances. We had guys come off the bench today and play huge. Now it's on to Ball State."
 
The day puts UD above .500 for the first time this season and puts them on a five-match winning streak, defending South Regency well in 2021 with all five wins coming at home.
 
In the first match, things went very smoothly for the Flyers. Dayton opened by taking all three doubles sets for the doubles point. Sophomores Max DeCurtins and Connor Bruce took the No. 1 singles match against Alex Totten and Timmy O'Brien of Cedarville 6-2. Senior Steven Karl and junior Joe DeMarco followed that up with a win in No. 2 doubles before sophomore Oliver Dunne and freshman Erik Eliasson won the contest at No. 3 doubles.
 
The momentum carried into singles play as Bruce, the reigning Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Co-Performer of the Week took No. 1 singles in straight sets. Karl joined him in No. 2 singles, knocking off Toshi Watanabe for Cedarville. Eliasson was strong in his bout at No. 3 singles as well, winning in straight sets and sophomore Max DeCurtins also won in straight sets in No. 5 singles. Dunne and sophomore Georgi Mavrodiev were each up one set in their contests in No. 4 and No. 6 singles before the match was called.
 
Dayton also played well against Bellarmine, starting again with doubles play. Bruce and DeCurtins made it a 2-0 day in No. 1 doubles, taking down the combo of Cole Groetsch and Evan Bottorff of the Knights 6-4. Senior Will Harper joined with Mavrodiev in No. 2 doubles to take the point for the Flyers 6-3.
 
Bruce took down Groetsch again in No. 1 singles play, while Karl shut out Emil Berglund in the first set of No. 2 singles. After dropping the second set, Karl took the third set in a tiebreak 10-8.  Eliasson also had a tiebreak in the third set, but the freshman fell 10-7, the only point Bellarmine would get in the match. Mavrodiev took No. 4 singles in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 and Joe DeMarco won in No. 5 singles by the same scores. DeCurtins improved to 3-0 in singles play on the season with a straight-set victory in No. 6 singles to complete the scoring for the day.
 
The Flyers will look to continue the winning streak when they head to Ball State for a 2 p.m. contest against the Cardinals on Thursday, March 4.