Tigers pounce on Engineers for win

DePauw senior Bryan Heck drives hard toward the ball during his match against Rose-Hulman's Michael Schoumacher. Heck won the match 6-1 and 6-1.

Being ranked 17th in the nation comes with a heavy burden -- to constantly win.

Most teams struggle with that burden, but it doesn't seem to bog down DePauw.

The Tigers (6-0) men's tennis team won its sixth straight match Wednesday night, routing Rose-Hulman 9-0.

The Tigers wasted no time in dispatching the Engineers as they swept the doubles match, 8-0, 8-0, and 8-3.

"We played well in the doubles and that is one of the things that we worked on," DPU Coach Tom Cath said. "We wanted to set the tone and get some momentum going early so we could get off to a good start."

If Cath was hoping his team would carry over their excitement into the singles matches, he got his wish.

DePauw blanked Rose-Hulman, sweeping all six singles matches two matches to none.

"My match went well," said Scott Swanson, DPU's No.1 one singles player. "Playing inside here allows me to serve really well and I got into a good rhythm."

A good rhythm might be an understatement since Swanson was serving up aces left and right.

"I feel really comfortable when I play inside this building and we have been playing inside a lot," Swanson said.

So far this season, the Tigers have played all their home meets inside the DPU tennis complex and it seems to be having a good effect on them. Swanson is now 6-0 on the season in singles and doubles matches.

The Tigers are on a roll and no one can argue that. They are talented this year, but one thing is for sure; things will get tougher for DePauw.

"We are playing really good right now for the beginning of the season," Cath said. "But the competition will get tougher as the season goes on."

The players aren't arrogant about their ability either. They know that hard matches are coming.

"The team is playing well right now, but we have our hardest matches coming up," Swanson said.

The Tigers are back in action on Saturday when they take on Ferris State at 4 p.m

At DePauw

DPU 9, RHIT 0

Doubles -- Heck/Sandager (DPU) def. Grubbs/Schoumacher 8-0; Swanson/Randon (DPU) def. Becerra/Gumz 8-0; Huffman/Batuello (DPU) def. Bryton/Hennrickson 8-0.

Singles -- Swanson (DPU) def. Grubbs 6-1, 6-1; Heck (DPU) def. Schoumacher 6-1, 6-1; Sandager (DPU) def. Gumz 6-1, 6-0; Rardon (DPU) def. Hendrickson 6-1, 6-1; Gates (DPU) def. Becerra 6-2, 6-1; Hunter def. Frizzwell 6-2, 6-0.

Next Mach -- DPU hosts Ferris State at 4 p.m. on Saturday.