The UNC Wilmington men’s tennis team stayed hot against rival East Carolina on Saturday, winning 7-0 on the UNCW outdoor courts.

The Seahawks (12-6) came into the match ranked 44^th nationally, and dominated from start to finish, losing just one set. Head coach Mait DuBois was happy to see his team get their third shutout of the year.

“It’s a great win, anytime you shut a team out,” DuBois said. “It just gives us confidence to win on any court.”

The most impressive win of the day for the Seahawks was senior Rafael Aita’s 6-3, 4-2 decision over #22 Joran Vilegen of ECU. It was the first Top-25 singles win of the season for UNC-Wilmington, and Aita’s fourth victory against a higher ranked opponent.

Sam Williams followed his CAA Player of the Week Award with a 6-2, 6-1 singles decision over Mario Martinez of ECU. He is now 10-6 in singles matches on the year, winning 3 in a row. Williams also teamed up with Aita in the doubles competition, defeating Colin Roller and Joran Vliegen 8-4.

Pedro Mol and Kaue Pereira, ranked 68^th in men’s doubles, were the first off the court, defeating Mario Martinez and Fredric Lehfeldt 8-2. Christiaan Van der Burgh and Zach Hublitz of UNCW were leading but did not finish.

In additional singles matches, Pedro Mol defeated Damien Brenard of East Carolina 6-2, 7-6. Kaue Pereira defeated Nicolas Soriano 6-2, 6-1. Santtu Leskinen defeated Fredric Lehfeldt 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 and Van der Burgh defeated Colin Roller of ECU 6-2, 6-4.

East Carolina came into the match with a 15-5 record, having not lost on the road since February 18^th.  The Seahawks, however, had won five in a row before Saturday’s game and have not lost since March 14 against North Florida.

The win is the 6^th straight, and the Seahawks have now played nine Top-75 opponents in 18 games. “This is by far the toughest schedule we’ve ever played,” DuBois said. “There’s been no easy days, and we’ve had a couple guys who weren’t ready for that grind. Now we know how hard it is to perform every day.”

The team will look to finish out the regular season with a win against UNC-Charlotte at home on April 11^th. The Seahawks will then have less than a week to prepare for the CAA tournament on April 17^th, when UNCW will try to repeat as conference champions. DuBois believes playing touch opponents early on will help the team in the CAA tournament—or possibly even further down the road. “We’ve come out of a lot of tough situations,” he said. “If you want to beat the best teams in the country, you have to beat the best teams in the country.”

“We just have to make sure very person shows up,” said DuBois. “Some matches that went against us—we just weren’t 100% mentally there that day. When we have everyone 100%, we’re pretty good.”