TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Earlham College men's tennis team blanked Franklin College 9-0 on Sunday at the Wabash Valley Tennis Center.

Earlham began the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest by sweeping the doubles competition from the Grizzlies (0-3, 0-1).

"It's a great start of the season in terms of the end result," Earlham Head Coach Adam Van Zee said. "We were able to go on the road and get two wins against good conference teams. However, there are definitely things that we have to work on if we want to compete against the top teams."

Anton Bartashevich (Moscow, Russia, International) and Jack Ventura-Cruess (Placentia, CA, El Dorado) played the tightest match of the day as they took an 8-6 decision from Blake Wareham and Ryan Hammer at No. 1 Doubles.

Phillip Locklear (Springboro, OH, Springboro) and Kyle Richter (Fremont, CA, Mission San Jose) won 8-1 over Jared Hunt and Evan Pierle at No. 2, while Scott Lawrence (Letchworth, England, Cheam) and Andrey Gavrilov (Yaroslavl, Russia, Universal) picked up an 8-3 victory over Neal Herzog and Corey Mills at No. 3.

In singles action at No. 1, Bartashevich defeated Wareham 6-1, 6-0. Locklear beat Hammer 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2.

At No. 3, Ventura-Cruess posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Hunt as Gavrilov won by the same score over Pierle at No. 4.

Brad Maisey (Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, Tauranga Boys) took a 6-1, 6-0 decision from Herzog at No. 5. Lawrence defeated Mills 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6.

The Quakers (2-0, 2-0) are on the road again on Wednesday at Denison University. The non-conference affair gets underway at 4 p.m.

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