The ICC Pirate tennis teams followed up on their previous home success with another impressive performance at the Ken Brown Tennis Courts on March 29 and 30.

Backed by the strength and confidence of head coach Brad Daugherty, the team registered back-to-back victories over Friends University and Hutchinson Community College respectively, in two days. Despite the windy conditions, the teams played like true professionals, giving nothing away to their opponents but more importantly capitalizing on their opposition’s errors.

“I knew you could do it,” said Coach Daugherty. “I knew you guys could do it, I had all the confidence in you,” the coach told members of the girls team after they crushed Hutchinson.

At the Riverside Park on the 29th, the men's team earned its first win of the season. Playing against Friends University of Wichita, the Pirates men's win was centered around top performances from sophomores Marco Herrera, Andre Nogueira, Juan Ramos and Hugo Morales whose victories helped the team registered a 8-1 decision over the visitors.  Marco Herrera knocked off  Dennis Matzen 6-3, 5-7, 11-9, Andre Nogueira earned 6-2, 1-6, 10-7 win over Ryan Reed while Juan Ramos came out on top over Lance Henne 3-6, 6-3, 15-13.

It was an easy day for Hugo Morales and Allen Chapman who cruised through with straight set victories over Phil Jelinek and Erik Rasmussen; 6-3, 6-1 for Morales and 6-4, 6-3 for Chapman. On a day when the host dominated, freshman Nick Daugherty suffered the only loss for the Pirates, falling to John Robinson 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.

Daugherty made up for his disappointments in the doubles by teaming up with Chapman to beat Rasmussen and Robinson as the Pirates came out 8-3 winners. In other match ups, Herrera and Nogueira teamed up to defeat Matzen and Reed while Ramos and Morales made easy work of Henne and Jelinek.

ICC Destroys Hutchinson CC

The following day the men's team was on the court again and this time they were joined by their female counterparts. As easy as a Sunday morning promenade, the men destroyed Hutchinson with a clean sweep of 9-0 while the women were also successful with an 8-1 victory.

Already climatised to the windy circumstances, the men's team had no problems demolishing the visiting Hutch in short time. In singles matches, the highly fancied Herrera who said he wants to play division I tennis, led the way with a 6-4, 6-2 victory while Nogueira destroyed his opposition 6-1, 6-2.

“The wind was really a bother today but I thank god I came away victorious,” Herrera said after his win.

“I did not like the windy conditions, but I played well and I am happy to come away the winner,” Nogueira said.

Ramos turned back Martin 6-1, 6-0 as Daugherty earned his first singles victory in style. The freshman cruised to an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win as the wind had its way across the court. Morales won his game 6-1, 6-1 while Chapman came out 6-3, 6-3 in his favor.

In doubles matches, Herrera and Nogueira defeat Reade and Martin 8-3 while Ramos and Morales cruised to an 8-4 victory over Freeman and Moore. Chapman and Daugherty had a little tougher time with Thurman and Kdorik but managed to come away with a 9-7 win.

The Lady Pirates, facing the windy conditions for the first time, also made light weight of their traveling contingents. Led by defending division II champion Idalina Franca, the women's team managed to win all six singles events on the day.

Franca had an easy straight set, 6-1, 6-0 win over Tania Osborn. Freshman Giang Vu adjusting well to the Kansas climate had a similar win aver Mallory Bailey. Other winners on the women's side came from Kelsey Stephens (6-2, 6-2) over Kristine Birzer, Kate Baker (6-4, 6-2) over Scharte and Madison Lumm played very well to stop Erica Scofield with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 victory. Multi-talented Marlene Holmes, playing in her home debut was off to a slow start losing the first set 4-6 but fought back to take the second set 7-5 and held on to win 10-4 in the tie break.

“My serve was really the thing that helped me to win my game,” Stephens said after her victory.

Fresh from their singles wins, Franca and Vu teamed up to beat Birzer and Bailey 8-1 to finish off a fine day for the Pirates. Lumm and Holmes cruised past Scofield and Neufeldt 8-2, but the luck ran out on Stephens and Baker as they went down 8-5 to Osborn and Scharte.