#16 Yellowjackets Split Season Opener

Grinnell, IA - The Graceland men's tennis team opened its season today in a double header. GU first took on Truman State University where they defeated them 9-0. GU next faced Grinnell College were they were defeated 7-2.

The men's tennis squad has already started the season off to an exciting start as they were ranked #16 in the 2016 NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll.

Graceland took control from the start, completely sweeping the Bulldogs in doubles competition. The number one pairing of seniors Oscar Chang Tun Jie and Gustavo Yanez beat Ryan Bunselmeyer and Matt Peterson 8-3, while the number two and three pairings of sophomore Borja Perez and junior Gonzalo Munoz and David James Parker and Danil Kanunnikov did the same. This gave the Yellowjackets a 3-0 lead heading into singles play.

Lead by Chang and a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Bunselmeyer, Graceland went on to take the rest of the singles matches as well.

"Graceland men's tennis began it's spring season with a strong win over Truman state today," said head Coach Joel Loving. "Everyone came out with a victory in doubles and singles and I was proud of our effort facing a good Dll opponent."

The win was the Yellowjackets first win of this season.

The second match of the evening was against the host school Grinnell College. This match started much differently for the Yellowjackets, as they were not able to take any of the doubles competitions.

And while Yanez and Perez were able to come away victorious in singles competition; Graceland was fell short of defeating Grinnell.

"Grinnell proved to be a much better team and we struggled a bit in our matches," said Coach Loving. "We could have won #1 doubles, but lost in a closely contested match 7-9. Borja Perez won a difficult singles match at three singles and Gustavo Vanez prevailed in another close match at #2 singles, but we were blanked in our other matches by a strong squad coached by Andy Hamilton. Playing two consecutive teams on this entirely different surface is always a challenge for us and we'll set our sights on correcting our mistakes and improving our strengths. We are a resilient team and I look forward to the rest of the season."

The loss drops the Yellowjackets to 1-1 overall, as they next travel to Drury University in a non-conference matchup on Friday, February 19. The match is scheduled for a 8pm start.

Stay tuned to GUjackets.com for continuing coverage of the Graceland tennis teams and for all Yellowjacket athletics.