MADISON, Wis. – The Edgewood College men's tennis team earned their first win of the season with an emphatic 8-1 victory over Bethany Lutheran College at Powless Tennis Center. The Eagles pulled out three close matches in doubles to gain the upper hand.

THE BASICS
Final Result: Edgewood College 8, Bethany Lutheran College 1
Location: Madison, Wis. (Powless Tennis Center)
Team Records: Edgewood College 1-4, Bethany Lutheran College 1-8

HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a rough start to the spring season, the Eagles finally picked up their first win, kicked off by an 8-6 victory at No. 2 doubles for Evan Stone and Jaime Benavides. Shortly thereafter, Andrew Martinez and Alex Hadjiev scored an 8-6 victory over Bethany Lutheran's Dexter Jackson and Andrew Jelken.
- The Eagles completed the doubles sweep in dramatic fashion. Austin Papenthien, seeing his first action of 2016, and Brian Davenport rallied from being down 6-7 at No. 1 doubles to steal a 9-7 victory over BLC's Brent Heflin and Dalton Werckman.
- With a 3-0 lead, the Eagles poured it on during singles play. Benavides completed a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Jason Buechler at No. 4 singles. Stone clinched the dual match with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Werckman at No. 3 singles.
- Papenthien, Davenport and Hadjiev earned their first singles win of the new season.
- The Vikings only point came at No. 5 singles and by the narrowest of margins. BLC's Dexter Jackson edged Martinez 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 in a match tiebreaker.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Papenthien, who missed the first four matches of the season, returned to pick up his 31st career singles win. He's third on Edgewood College's all-time list behind current assistant coach Mike Wanta and former doubles partner Patrick Lagman.

UP NEXT
- Edgewood College has one more dual match before heading to Hilton Head, S.C. for a series of spring trip matches. The Eagles will face UW-Oshkosh on Sunday, March 6 at 4:00 p.m. in Fond du Lac, Wis.