The UW Oshkosh men’s tennis team was victorious in its home opener at the Oshkosh YMCA Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 27 against Carroll University. Beating Carroll 6-3 put the Titans on a two game win streak as they previously defeated Central College (Iowa), 5-4 on Saturday, Feb. 20. Head Coach James Lewison said the excitement from the previous weekend led his team to do a good job in preparing for the match against Carroll. “After we wrapped up a solid win against Central College in Iowa last weekend, all of us were hungry to taste victory again and keep the positive energy and momentum going,” Lewison said. Junior Adam Martin and freshman Adam Hawley led the way for three of the six points. They took No. 2 doubles 8-2 against Noah Stemper and Joshua Ramos of the Pioneers. In singles, Hawley defeated Blake Youngberg, notching 7-5, 6-4 in the third flight, and Martin knocked off Joshua Ramos scoring 6-1, 6-0 in the fourth flight. Hawley said he played with a lot of confidence against Youngberg. “I went into the match feeling very comfortable and kept the nerves to a minimum,” Hawley said. “Winning after matches is a great feeling, especially when you know you played very well.” The Titans were also successful in the third flight of doubles. Sophomore David Leffler and freshman William O’Connell paired to defeat Andrew Nemcek and Ian Foster, 8-3. Leffler said playing on his home court helped the Titans get the victory. “I believe playing at home made us play better as a team,” Leffler said. “The biggest reason being having all of the support from friends and family. There were so many people that showed up to watch and that made the team really excited to represent Oshkosh.” Freshman Ryan Kuzmanovic and sophomore Logan Zastrow both won their singles play in tiebreakers. Kuzmanovic beat Quentin Lamers 7-5, 4-6 (10-8), while Zastrow eliminated Noah Stemper 4-6, 6-4 (12-10). Carroll University’s Peter Jaeger had a decisive victory over sophomore Vincent Gorski in No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-0. In doubles, Jaeger, alongside Quentin Lamers, received another win against Gorski and Kuzmanovic 8-1. Despite going up against one of the best players in the area, Gorski said the team showed improvement throughout the day. “I am really proud of how our team fought and won in some really close matches,” Gorski said. “It is going to raise our confidence going into next weekend when we face similar skilled teams to Carroll.” The Pioneers triumphed in the No. 6 singles as Nemcek downed sophomore Jordan Andersen in a tiebreaker, 2-6, 7-6 (7), (10-5). The Titans will host another meet at the Oshkosh YMCA Tennis Center against Lawrence University on Saturday, March 5 at 3 p.m. Lewison said he knows the head coach of Lawrence very well. “I will be going up against Coach Francour when we face Lawrence so it will take a bit of an adjustment on my part to not see him as my college tennis coach, but now as a rival,” Lewison said. “I have a lot of faith in my guys based on their play under pressure the past couple of weeks. We have played a brutal schedule which I believe has made the team stronger, and if we compete like we have been, there’s a very good chance we will be successful.”