LAGRANGE, Ca. - The UC Santa Cruz men's tennis team took home a convincing 5-2 win against the Piedmont University Lions and later defeated LaGrange 7-0. UC Santa Cruz started by fighting through the doubles matches which the Slugs won 2-1. The Slugs cruised through the Singles matches only dropping two matches. After Friday's doubleheader, the Slugs will be heading out to Atlanta to play Emory University on Saturday and East Texas Baptist University on Sunday. 
 
UC Santa Cruz 5, Piedmont 2
The doubles matches were close to start the day. After falling 0-1, No. 2 Mayur Nookala and Radin Sadeghi rallied to beat their competition 6-2, making things even going into court 3. No. 3 Adam Hidas and Praneet Varade won an extremely close set 7-5 which was just enough for the Slugs to earn a win in doubles. Later on, at the Singles courts the Lions put up some competition but were outclassed by the Slugs. No. 1 Andrew Tjoa won a close overtime match that went 4-6, 7-6 (2), 5-10. After an intense first Singles match No. 2 Radin Sadeghi made quick work of his competition winning in two quick sets 6-3 and 6-0. No. 5 Benjamin Wang had similar success in his match which he won in two sets that both went 6-3. To finish things off for the Slugs, No. 6 Praneet Varade had a convincing win in his match that went 6-1, 6-4. This was more than enough to give the Slugs the victory in their first of two games on Friday. 
 
UC Santa Cruz 7, LaGrange 0
The Banana Slugs soared through the doubles matches to get the action started. No .1 Benjamin Wang and Andrew Tjoa cruised to a 6-0 win. No. 2 Mayur Nookala and Radin Sadeghi followed suit with a 6-0 win of their own. To wrap things up on the doubles courts, No. 3 Praneet Varade and Arjun Tandon took their set with a quick 6-1 victory. The momentum continued for the Slugs in singles. No. 1 Radin Sadeghi won 6-1, 6-1. No. 2 Adam Hidas nearly swept his competition 6-0, 6-1. No. 3 Mayur Nookala had very similar success, also winning 6-0, 6-1. No. 4 Praneet Varade was able to pick up the only sweep of the day 6-0, 6-0. No. 5 Arjun Tandon also had a 6-0, 6-1 win. Lastly, to finish the sweep for the Slugs, No. 6 Rocco Melendez won his match in two sets as well (6-1, 6-2).  That concluded Friday's doubleheader with two very convincing wins for the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.